Virus Busters: The Rise Of World Three
by UpbeatButNegative
Summary: The year is 200X and everything, from everyday appliances to large machinery, is connected by the Internet. However, there is a dark side to this convenience, a rapid increase in hackers and viruses. Join fifth grader Lan Hikari and his NetNavi MegaMan.EXE, as they solve various net crimes in DenTech City and learn what the criminal group responsible for them really want and why.
1. The Birth Of Heroes

~Guess who's back and at again? Me, UpbeatButNegative!~

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**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

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**The Year 199X...**

The streets were quiet. The night was peaceful. At least outside Beach Street Hospital it was.

Yuichiro Hikari, a SciLab scientist, gripped the hand of his wife, Haruka Hikari, and lent her his support in the struggle called childbirth. At first, Haruka moaned in pain, but the pain grew too much to bear and the moans grew louder. Eventually, the soon to be child deliverer couldn't help but scream in agony. The blank atmosphere of a hospital turned into an intense scene.

"You can do it, Haruka! Just a little longer!"

"Gaaah! Aaaahhh!"

As she pushed harder and harder under the doctor's orders, the pain grew stronger and stronger. How long did it have to go on? Why did it have to hurt horribly? When would it all be over?

Somehow, though, it was all over. Haruka made it through. After all the pain and torture, what appeared as two infant boys finally arrived into the human world. As the twin sons wailed in the warmth of their new blankets, the witnesses to the childbirth couldn't help but feel overjoyed.

"They're... beautiful..." Haruka cried happily, tears flowing down her eyes. What should we call them, Yuichiro?"

"..."

The scientist thought long and hard about.

"Let's name them 'Hub Hikari' and 'Lan Hikari'," Yuichiro smiled warmly.

After showering every single doctor and nurse in Beach Street Hospital with gratitude, Yuichiro and Haruka left in happiness. With twins Lan and Hub to watch and raise, they were officially a family and nothing could tear the four apart.

It's been two months since Hub and Lan were born and life was nothing but pure bliss. While Yuichiro was off at work in SciLab, Haruka stayed behind at home to look after her recently born sons. The Hikari family lived in a comfortable house in the center of ACDC Town, located within the boundaries of DenTech City.

The white and blue house's lower floor was padded with glossed up wooden planks. The kitchen, one with all the basic essentials and a bit more and where Haruka was warming up the babies' milk, was tucked away neatly in the far left corner of the entrance. Outside the kitchen was the dining table, covered with a red and white checkered cloth. Far behind the tucked in chairs was the living room, with a flat screen TV installed on the wall, a small seating area in front of it and a tall lamp to the side of it.

Sitting in separate baby seats were Hub and Lan, playing with their educational toys. Lan found it amusing to reach over and knock down Hub's number block tower. Hub countered by stretching his arm to destroy Lan's alphabet block tower. The two brothers messed with each other frequently, but laughed off what the other did. Life was good.

Suddenly, breaking the sound of Hub's laughter was a furious cough! Following this were several very throaty coughs. Immediately, Haruka stopped what she was doing and rushed over to Hub.

"Hub! Are you okay!" she demanded to know, only to receive gruff coughs as a response. "Oh no... I never knew this was going to happen... I have to get him to the hospital!"

Lan noticed his mother's very panicky tone and made a little 'Hmm?' sound, to which the mother translated as, "Is everything okay?"

"Nothing's going right at all!" Haruka told him, taking the babies from the seats.

As she rushed to Beach Street Hospital, Hub continued to cough roughly. Lan responded to this by reaching his hand over to his brother's and gripped it as tightly as he could, almost as if to say, "Everything will be okay! Don't worry!"

After being alerted of the problem, the doctors quickly brought the three to another room, took Hub and inspected him. Meanwhile, Haruka called Yuichiro to alert him of the dilemma. Right after the call, the scientist rushed over to the hospital and demanded to see the rest of the Hikari family. In no time flat, the assistant led Yuichiro into their room.

"Yuichiro! Thank goodness you're here!" Haruka sobbed, wrapping her arms around him and throwing her face to her husband's shirt.

"Honey, calm down!" he told her. "I'm sure the doctors can do something about this!"

"Uhh..." Lan sounded worriedly from his mother's arms. Yuichiro took this as, "Are you sure?"

"Your brother will be okay, Lan," he spoke to his son softly. "At least, I hope so..."

A doctor looked at the heart monitor and was devastated. Hub's heart was beating all over the place! One second, it beat as fast as a cheetah, but the next, it crawled down to a snail's pace.

_Oh no! It can't be... HBD! Urgh... And I can't use the defibrillator on a baby! His body wouldn't be able to take the electrodes!_

Frantically, possibilities popped up in the doctor's head, but they all had fatal flaws. Eventually, he gave up. Nothing could be done...

He didn't know how to put it, but he broke the bad news to the rest of the Hikari family. This resulted in Haruka breaking down to a flood, Yuichiro being filled with despair and rage and Lan reacting to his parents' negative feelings by crying himself.

"No... He can't be..." Haruka murmured. "Why...?"

Suddenly, Yuichiro's eyes were filled with determination.

"Hub will live on..."

* * *

Well, here's the prologue to my first Megaman fanfic. It's a novelization of Megaman Battle Network. To be honest, my novelization of a spin off Mario game called 'Mario Tennis: Power Tour' wasn't my best work. I kinda lost interest in doing the whole game after about half way and decided to cut it after the final round of the big tournament called the 'Island Open'. I find that it's a good spot to end, though.

What did that have to do with this fic? Well, simple: I won't let one lackluster story put me down. I hope that my novelization of this game goes a lot better! If I find that I enjoy writing this, I'll probably do the whole Battle Network series!

For now, though, this is the beginning of a new fic. And that fic is...

**~Virus Busters, The Rise Of World Three~**

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever~


	2. A NetNavi And His NetOp

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

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Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 1: You shouldn't really overestimate a story because of first impressions anyway. It could lead to great joy, but then again, it could also lead to major disappointment.

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I should probably make a mention of what you'll see in this novelization. You will see quite a number of changes, including, but not restricted to, these:

Removals include the removal of the Add feature, the Custom Gauge and the Chip Code system. In short, when you imagine the scenes playing in your head, think of it like an episode of the anime.

Speaking of the anime, I'll be using some of the anime's terminology (Maylu instead of Mayl, DenTech instead of Den, etc). I don't know if it'll be a change for the better or for the worse, but either way, you readers will get what I mean. Besides, it's not like I'll be replacing all the game's terms with the anime's terms (I'll still call the bosses by their game names). It may be inconsistent, but, again, you get the point.

Also, there'll be some little item changes and dialogue changes here and there. It's no fun to stick exactly with what you've got, after all.

Finally, there'll be some filler in between the main events. Without the filler, this story sandwich will just be two slices of bread/toast!

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**Ten Years Later, In The Year 200X...**

"Lan! Wake up!"

"Zzz..."

"If you don't get up, you'll be late for school!" the child's mother warned her son.

"Zzz..."

In the opposite corner of the sleeping boy's bed was a drawer. On top of that was an object that became a common household item: a 'Personal Terminal' (PET). Essentially, they were glorified mobile phones, but with a lot more features. 'Net Navigators' (NetNavis) reside in these mobile devices and assist their 'Net Operators' (NetOps) in many ways.

This particular PET flashed and a news bulletin appeared on the screen.

It said, "PET NetNews! 'World Three crime on the rise!' It says the World Three might be starting their plan to control the net!"

"Ungh... Let me sleep..."

"You've got mail from Dad, too!" the NetNavi told him. "Look: 'Sorry I couldn't get off work yesterday. I'll be home soon. Here's a present for you!' There's some battle chip data attached, too!"

The brown haired child yawned. Reluctantly, he got up, complaining that he was having a great dream.

"Just get dressed," the Net Navi ordered him. "Even if you are late, it's no excuse to wearing your PJs in school!"

"Fine, fine, fine..."

It was a time consuming procedure, but eventually, the boy, Lan Hikari, was able to change out of his blue and white striped pajamas and into his usual attire. After he fitted into his white shirt and black shorts with yellow stripes down the sides, he wore his orange vest over his shirt, put on his black socks, and snapped on his blue headband. It had the Hikari family logo on it: a yellow circle which was black on the inside. Also inside the circle were two red hexagons meeting each other on their sides. He put on his backpack and was almost ready to go.

He put his battle chip sack in one of the side pockets of the backpack. From his drawer, he picked up his PET and greeted his NetNavi good morning, responding good morning. Megaman's jumpsuit was a dark shade of blue than his helmet, gloves and boots, and had cyan lines down the sides and yellow shoulder pads. The helmet also had cyan lines down the sides, but in addition, it had a thick yellow rectangle down the center, a yellow square below it. On Megaman's chest and on where his ears would be lie the Hikari family symbol.

Taking an empty battle chip from the drawer, he slotted it in the PET, asking Megaman to download the data to it. An image appeared on the white space on the chip: a silhouette of a warrior with a neon scarlet energy sword for a left arm in front of a red themed background.

"Fighter Sword! Cool!" Lan grinned.

"Wait, Lan," Megaman said. "There's some more data. Do you have an empty chip to download it?"

Lan reached for his drawer again and found one. Again, he slotted it into the PET and Megaman downloaded the data to it. The picture that appeared this time was a silver weight with a face in front of a blue background.

"Eh. Quake's not as strong as Fighter Sword," Lan admitted as he placed his two new chips in his sack. "But it's still pretty cool. Thanks, Dad!"

"Now, we better get to school," Megaman told Lan. "We don't much have time left."

Lan left his blue carpeted room and headed downstairs.

"Morning, Mom!" Lan called out.

"Good morning, Lan!" she responded. "Do you have time to eat? There's some breakfast on the table."

Just then, Lan's stomach growled.

"Hmm... Can't go to school on an empty stomach! I'll chow down!" he said as he sat down on the chair.

"Alright, Lan, but be quick," Megaman sighed, for he feared Lan would be late again. It was a recurring theme in ACDC Elementary, no, all of ACDC Town, for Lan to be late.

After scoffing down his cereal, Lan said bye to his mother, slipped on his shoes (which could convert into roller blades, should the time call for it) and left the building. Outside, he found his childhood friend and neighbor, Maylu Sakurai. The magenta haired girl was also in her usual attire: a pale green shirt under a blue vest, a pink skirt which reached halfway down her thighs, dark knee length socks and dark red shoes. Her hair ornament was pink, with a slice of it being an amber orange.

Megaman pointed out for Lan that Maylu wasn't happy to see her friend up so late again. In her mind, she told herself to leave without Lan more often. She also told herself to actually start doing that at all!

"You're late again, Lan!" she sighed as the two began to walk.

"Hmph. No one asked you to wait for me anyway," Lan mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Why do we have to walk to school together all the time?"

"Silly!" Maylu giggled. "It's because we have so much to talk about!"

"She means SHE's got a lot to talk about, Lan," Megaman told his NetOp. "You just listen and don't say a word..."

"Quiet, you!" Lan hissed.

"So, Lan. Have you heard of what's been happening with people's ovens?" Maylu asked Lan, ignoring what he and Megaman just said.

"Yeah. They've been spitting fire all of a sudden!" Lan replied.

"I bet it's another one of World Three's viruses!"

"Maybe... Can't people do anything about it, though?"

"I don't know..."

* * *

**At ACDC Elementary...**

A few minutes of talking later, Lan and Maylu arrived at the open school gates. After a walk up the stairs and across the corridor, the two entered their classroom: Class 5-A. Like the others, this one had a generic layout. It had a generic checkered floor, a generic set of lockers and generically arranged seats, to name a few generic features. The only thing that stood out, however, were a few of the students: Lan's more closer friends, one of them being Maylu, of course.

There was also the rather round and boastful Dex Oyama, whose hairstyle was that of a mohawk. He was in his usual green t-shirt (with a green cross inside a black circle), blue shorts and shoes and gray socks. Though he cares for his friends, he shares a rivalry with Lan and believes he's the best NetOp in the world.

Next was the very rich and intelligent Yai Ayano, a little girl in a red dress with a white stripe down the bottom, white socks, red shoes and blond hair in a ponytail. Being younger than anyone else in fifth grade, she skipped ahead for her intelligence. Her father owns the video game company AyanoTech.

Finally, there was the quiet and calm Tory Froid, wearing his usual maroon shirt under his beige hooded jacket (at the back of it was a blue circle with a cyan star like shape in it), blue shorts and ordinary shoes. He didn't have a particular hairstyle, though his brown hair was closest to that of a bowl haircut. His father, Dr Froid, works at the Waterworks, the company responsible for keeping the water in DenTech City clean. Tory himself sometimes helps his father out.

By the blackboard, Dex was standing there, waiting for Lan.

"There you are!" he said once he found him. "I've been waiting for you."

"What is it, Dex?" Lan asked him.

"I challenge you to a Net Battle! Your little Megaman VS my Gutsman!" Gutsman was Dex's NetNavi.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Dex," Tory told Dex as he heard in on the conversation. "I heard that they've banned Net Battles in the school now."

"Well, who cares?" Dex smirked. "We're gonna battle anyway, right, Lan?"

"Well-"

Before Lan could answer, the school bell rang, signalling that class was to begin.

"Aw man!" Dex moaned. Then, he turned to Lan. "But we'll be Net Battling after school, Lan! At the squirrel statue! Be there!"

"Hah! You know it!"

Everyone took their seats and awaited the teacher's arrival. Ms Mari entered the classroom in her teal braced skirt over a lilac shirt, long purple tights and teal boots.

"Good morning, class," the teacher said.

"Good morning, Ms Mari," the class replied together.

"Let's begin our first period: 'Virus Busting'. Who here has read this morning's NetNews?"

"I did!" Tory called, putting his hand up. "It said World Three net crime was rising."

"Very good, Tory!" Ms Mari praised him.

"Of course, you should know, too, Lan," Megaman whispered to him.

Not hearing this, Ms Mari continued, "It's important that we all know how to fight viruses because..."

While she was going on about that, Dex whispered to Lan, "I'd like to see a World Three virus take me and Gutsman on!"

"You always go on about your little Gutsman..." Yai sighed.

"You be quiet!" Dex snapped back.

"Relax!" Lan said. "Why would World Three bother you anyway, Dex?"

Taking it the wrong way, Dex growled, "Why you..."

Unfortunately, Ms Mari caught them, scolding them, "Quiet when I'm speaking!" To everyone else, she said, "Today, we'll be using a common virus called the 'Mettool'. Everyone, jack in your NetNavi to your computer so it can access the net."

"Well, let's do this," Megaman said.

"Okay," Lan replied. "Jack in, Megaman! Execute!"

Stretching the cord from his PET out, he plugged it into the computer, sending Megaman into it, as did the other students with their NetNavis.

* * *

**In The School Computer...**

Lan was seated in the front left of the classroom. Next to him was Maylu and next to her was Tory. Behind Lan was Dex and next to him was Yai, with everyone else taking up the other seats. As such, the NetNavis stood behind corresponding desks. Most of the students had normal NetNavis, which were green and yellow overall. At the front left desk was Megaman.

Next to him was Roll, Maylu's pink NetNavi, with two transparent energy ribbons from her helmet that formed a 'C' behind her head and flat, but long and blond, hair, with a green ribbon on it. On her chest and ears were shapes that resembled Maylu's hair ornament. Because Lan and Maylu were best friends, Megaman and Roll were equally as close to each other.

Next to Roll was Tory's NetNavi: Iceman, a dwarf sized figure in a teal hooded snow jacket and brown gloves and boots. At the front of the jacket lies the star like shape that Tory possessed on his jacket. Like Tory, he is usually calm, but when the time comes, he can be serious.

Behind Megaman was the hefty Gutsman, a yellow Navi with enlarged hands and feet and quite a rectangular head. His chest, however, was red, and had the same cross as Dex had on his t-shirt. He's not the smartest or the quickest to think, but he's very dedicated to his friends. Because Dex and Lan are rivals, Gutsman and Megaman share the same relationship.

Next to Gutsman was Yai's very tall butler like NetNavi, Glyde, a brown and yellow Navi overall with a set of wings on his back. On his chest was a symbol Yai possessed on her backpack: a black circle with two yellow triangles next to each other and a red diamond in between them. He may come off as a bit snooty (taken from his NetOp Yai), but he is good friends with Megaman and the others.

"Okay, it looks like everyone's online," Ms Mari noticed. "Now, we'll need a volunteer for these demonstrations." It was hard to pick with everyone holding their hand up, but she chose Lan.

"So, what do I do?" Lan asked his teacher.

"The first demonstration will be on basics," Ms Mari said, taking out her battle chip sack. "Here, I have two Cannon chips I would like you to take out." Lan did as instructed. "The stars you see on them show their rarity and attack power," she explained.

"Hmm... Cannons are only one star each," Lan noted.

"Yes. That mean's they're very common, but pretty weak when compared to other chips. Mettools are the weakest viruses anyway, so it won't matter. All you have to do is simply slot in your chips to your PET and your NetNavi will download the data. Cannons are basic damage dealing chips, but theycan't take the force of one shot, so they disappear upon use. Did you get that, Lan? Are you ready?"

"Yep."

"Okay, release the Mettools," the teacher instructed her Navi.

The female normal Navi held up a cage, which held two Mettools, looking pretty angry and ready to delete. But being in a controlled environment meant that no one had anything to worry about.

"Ready, Megaman?" she asked.

"Ready. Okay, Lan. Send me the chip data!"

"Right! Cannon X2! Battle chips in! Download!"

Megaman's hands turned into two green Cannons. As soon as Megaman stepped up as told to and Ms Mari's Navi released the Mettools, he fired the Cannons at them, immediately deleting them. However, he noticed that the Cannons disappeared and his arms returned to normal.

"Excellent!" the teacher Navi prasied Megaman. "Remember, you don't have to use battle chips to delete viruses. You can use your default weapon you've been given."

To this, Megaman turned his left arm as his trademark Mega Buster, then turned it back into his hand.

"Any questions?" the teacher's Navi asked the class.

"I have one," Iceman said. "Is there a limit to the amount of chip data we can download at a time?"

"We can only download data from up to five chips at a time. As NetNavis, our bodies can't handle any more chip data than that."

"I'm cool with that."

Meanwhile, in the real world, Ms Mari warned Lan that Megaman would be deleted if too much damage is taken, while everyone took notes on what they were learning. Afterwards, the teacher proceeded with the next demonstration: support type chips.

"Not all battle chips are weapons," Ms Mari began to tell the class. "Lan, take out the Area Steal and Wide Sword chips." He did so and showed them to everyone else. "Area Steal, a two star chip, allows your Navi to warp closer to or further away from your enemy. The various sword chips like the two star chip Wide Sword are mainly used up close. In case you don't want to risk rushing up to the enemy to strike, use this combo. When my Navi releases the Mettools, slot the chips in, Lan."

In the School Computer, Ms Mari's Navi released another two viruses from a cage. Megaman was in the field for battle and awaited orders.

"Area Steal! Wide Sword! Battle chips in! Download!" Lan called out as he slotted the two chips in.

After Megaman got into a fighting position, he suddenly disappeared, leaving the two Mettools confused. The NetNavis laughed at their confusion. The Mettools didn't know that Megaman then appeared right behind them and that he had a Wide Sword for a right hand. A swing with the sword and the Mettools were 'brown bread', an idiom Navis knew humans used for 'dead' or deleted'.

* * *

Alright. This chapter has gone on long enough, so I'll leave it there. It's been pretty description heavy, too.

As you can see, I mix in quite a few elements from the anime into this game novelization. I think it speeds up the pace more than waiting for a Custom Gauge to go up or using an Add button. Also, Area Steal does in this story what it does in the anime because... Well, really - the idea of a six by three grid for battles to take place on and stealing enemies' area is pretty bizarre. If that was in the anime, the fights would be pretty slow paced.

Tory has little to do with anything in the game, but got a lot more action in the anime. Still, he's quite an underrated character, so I figured that he should get more screen time here (so much screen time, he's considered a main character).

You might be thinking why Lan didn't just bring his chip sack for the demonstrations. Net Battles are illegal and why else would you bring battle chips? People probably bring them anyway for battles after classes.

Anyway, next up is the fight with Gutsman.

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever~


	3. Cooking Up Some Trouble!

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

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Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 2: Glad you like the story so far! I hope to make it quite big on the Megaman fandom because not much novelizations are well known, if any at all. It's kinda where I want to make my mark in this corner of FanFiction. Of course, novelizations aren't everything, so if something original comes up, I'll write that, too.

By the way, how do you feel about the changes I've made? Are most of them for the better?

But enough babbling. Let's get right to it.

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**After School...**

A boring six or so hours in school later, classes were finally over. However, Lan and Megaman weren't totally free yet.

"So, why are we waiting for Dex again?" Megaman asked. "Wasn't he the one who hosted the challenge?"

"He's got after school cleaning duty today," Lan told his Navi. "So I can't bail on him."

"Hmm, you're right on the not bailing part..."

It took a long time, but eventually, Dex made it out. The two friends began to make their way to the squirrel statue in the park.

"What took you so long?" Lan asked impatiently. "It's just cleaning duty, right?"

"Sorry, Lan! It's just that I was rushing and when I was done, Ms Mari told me to do it again!"

"Sigh... Whatever. Let's do this!"

"Yeah! Gutsman is so gonna beat Megaman this time!"

"I doubt that!"

A few minutes of waking later, Lan and Dex arrived at the park. It had everything anyone could want: playing areas for the kids, chatting areas for the adults, green grass, tall trees and an area for Net Battles. The pink squirrel statue in the middle of the park was known to ACDC residents to be a ground for kids to have Net Battles on. The park in this bright, sunny afternoon would soon turn into a battleground for Lan and Dex, who stepped in front of the squirrel statue.

"Said your prayers, Lan?" Dex taunted him, extending out the cord from his PET. "Jack in, Gutsman! Execute!"

"Hah! You're gonna wish you said yours!" Lan grinned, pulling out his PET's cord. "Jack in, Megaman! Execute!"

* * *

**In The Squirrel Statue...**

The net's equivalent of the real world's sky was cyberspace. The squirrel statue's cyberspace was dark blue with images of squirrels flashing about. At the same time, the net's equivalent of the real world's ground was called cyber ground and Megaman and Gutsman's cyber battleground was as green as grass and looked like it, too.

In flashes of blue light, the two NetNavis appeared, looking ready to fight.

"Guts! You think you can stand up to this?" Gutsman taunted Megaman, pounding his chest with his left fist.

"You won't be able to stand up when this battle's over!" Megaman smirked. "Lan, are you ready?"

"As always!" Lan replied.

"Get ready, Gutsman!" Dex told his Navi.

"Guts! Okay, Megaman. I'll let you make the first move!"

"You're asking for it," Megaman warned him, his right arm forming his Mega Buster.

The battle began with Megaman firing at few shots at Gutsman, who took direct hits from them. After getting back up, Gutsman's right fist grew. he rushed at Megaman and stretched his arm out for the punch, only to miss. Gutsman raised his left arm and swung it at Megaman, but before it connected with him, Megaman was sent Area Steal and he warped away. Now behind Gutsman, Megaman charged his Mega Buster and fired a powerful shot at his opponent's back.

"Grr... I'll get you for that, Lan!" Dex vowed. "Guts Hammer! Battle chip in! Download!"

Gutsman stretched his hands upwards, clasped them together and formed a large hammer in place of them. He swung it down and created a violent shockwave which was sent at Megaman, who jumped over it.

"Guts... Hold still!" Gutsman shouted as his Guts Hammer disappeared and his hands returned.

"We've got him now, Megaman!" Lan told Megaman. "Cyber Sword! Battle chip in! Download!"

Megaman's Mega Buster disappeared and in its place was a normal sized sword. After landing on the ground, he leaped at Gutsman, raised his sword and slashed down at him. He heard his opponent fall to the cyber ground. Turning around, he saw that Gutsman was being jacked out.

"GUTSMAN, LOGGING OUT," a computerized voice announced.

* * *

**In The Real World...**

"Grr... I'll get you for this, Lan!" Dex vowed, leaving the park.

"You were awesome, Megaman!" Lan praised Megaman, jacking him out of the statue. "Now let's go home."

Coming home, Lan was greeted by his mom, but saw a a strange man checking out the home control panel next to the TV. His slightly long hair, sideburns and pointed beard were as red as fire, slightly contrasting with his NetSafety uniform. NetSafety, as Lan's mother began to explain, sent this man to their house to check for viruses.

"We think viruses are responsible for the oven accidents," this man told Lan. "We're checking every home's control panel just to be safe."

"Thanks, mister," Lan said to him. "We won't get in your way."

"While we wait for him to finish, let's get on the Net," Megaman suggested.

"Good idea."

Lan walked up the stairs and entered his room. He switched on his computer and took out his battle chip sack in case of viruses, before throwing his backpack next to the drawer.

"Alright. Here we go," Lan said to Megaman when he logged in. "Jack in, Megaman! Execute!"

* * *

**On The Internet...**

Megaman arrived at Lan's homepage, which had a teal cyber ground and a soccer themed cyberspace. He was greeted by some of the Mr Progs (various programs) before stepping on a portal to the Internet.

Megaman laid eyes on a vast network, with a grass green cyber ground and a sky blue cyberspace. There were many paths leading to many different people's homepages (access to them being blocked off by Security Gates, which required the correct password inputted to let a Navi through), most appliances and other areas in the Net. The world wide Net was split into different countries' areas, which were split into different cities' areas, those of which were split into different areas for the different towns. Those who jacked into the Net from ACDC Town, like Lan, would arrive in the 'ACDC Area', also known as the 'Eastern DenTech Area'.

A few steps into the ACDC Area, Megaman saw Glyde, who looked like he was worrying about something.

"Hey, Glyde!" Megaman called for him. "Something wrong?"

"Ah, good afternoon, Megaman," Glyde greeted his friend formally, albeit with a worried tone. "Yes, something is very wrong. One of Ms Yai's programs has gotten himself lost!"

"Lost?" Megaman gasped. "That doesn't sound good. The poor guy could be anywhere."

"You're darn right it doesn't sound good!" the sound of Yai's voice cried. In the Net, voices of those speaking in the real world were projected through the Net, so a NetNavi can hear their NetOp. "And he was one of my favorite programs, too!"

Yai began to weep, but Lan tried his best to calm her down.

"Hey, how about we help you look for that program?" Lan suggested.

"You would?" Yai responded, her hopes rising. "Oh, thank you, Lan! Thank you! When you've found it, bring it back to my homepage and tell it to let me know. Glyde, give Megaman here the password."

"Certainly, Ms Yai." Glyde turned to Megaman and told him the password to Yai's homepage. "Thank you in advance, Megaman. I'll check my right and you check your left."

"No problem," Megaman said. With that, the two friends split up.

Throughout the search, viruses were popping up in front of Megaman's way. They served no real purpose, other than to delete anything in their path. They were rather weak viruses, consisting mainly of Mettools (heads with a yellow pair of feet, a yellow helmet with a green cross, beady eyes and a pickaxe used to send shockwaves) and Canodumbs (green cannons on stands which fired at anything in its path). A few shots with the Mega Buster deleted any wave of them.

Megaman searched in open areas, corners and different Security Gates, but when he came across Tory's homepage's Security Gate, he saw Iceman talking with a Mr Prog.

"Hey, Iceman!" Megaman greeted him.

"Heya, Megaman," Iceman greeted him back, the NetOps following suit. "If you came to ask me to hang out, I can't right now. I agreed with this Mr Prog to Glyde, so he can take it back to Yai's homepage."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Megaman told him. "I agreed to help Glyde look for you and he gave me the password for the homepage. I'll take him back for you."

Just after, Tory's mom called him to have his snack. Tory hated to bail out, but it seemed like Megaman had everything covered, so after he and Iceman bid farewell to their friends, Iceman jacked out.

Just as promised, Megaman took Yai's Mr Prog over to the Security Gate, entered the password and entered Yai's homepage, which had a cyber ground of silver, gold and platinum and a diamond themed cyberspace.

After Lan let Yai know of the Mr Prog's return, Yai thanked him.

"You know, maybe I should start hiring you to help me with some other stuff!" Yai added.

"C'mon, Yai. We're friends," Lan chuckled. "You don't need to 'hire' me."

It was at that moment that Lan's mom called him for his snack.

"Well, I better go and eat," Lan told Yai. "I'll see ya later."

"Goodbye, and thanks again!"

* * *

**At Lan's House...**

After jacking out of the Internet, Lan switched off his computer and headed for the kitcken. However, he heard his mom shriek from there! He rushed to her to see what was wrong, with his battle chip sack ready, and found that the oven was set ablaze!

"Aah! How did that happen!" Lan yelped.

"I-I don't know!" his mother responded. "I was trying to make hotcakes, but look! And the repairman said that nothing was wrong! What should we do!"

"Well, either that guy was just a rookie or he just forgot something. Maybe it's a virus or a bug or something!"

"Lan! Jack me into the oven!" Megaman said to Lan from the PET. "I'll deal with it!"

"Are you crazy!" Lan's mother shrieked. "Not only is that dangerous, Lan, but that PET is VERY expensive! What are you gonna do if you drop it!"

"Trust me, mom," Lan reassured her, walking up to the flaming oven. "I've got this. Jack in, Megaman! Execute!"

* * *

**In The Hikaris' Oven...**

Megaman was jacked into the oven, to see the whole place burning away. Everything, from the cyberspace and cyber ground to the panicking Mr Progs were tinted red because of the pillars of fire.

"Hey, are you alright?" he asked a group of three seemingly sweaty Mr Progs.

"Megaman! Yeah, we're fine," one of them answered.

"Did you see what happened?" Megaman asked.

"Well, all we saw was this hot headed Navi pop in and suddenly, this place was on fire," the second Mr Prog responded. "Because of this heat, this oven network is broken up."

"Do you know anything I can do?"

"Well, there's the oven control area..." the third Mr Prog said. "But those fires will get in the way. You'll need Ice Blocks.

"Great. Where are they?"

"Over there, in the thawing section," the first Mr Prog said, pointing to Megaman's left. "But we can't get to it because of those scary viruses over there!"

"Huh?"

Megaman turned in the direction the Mr Prog was pointing at and saw a Mettool, a Canodumb and a Flappy (a gray creature that can fly and turn into a weight to crush anything below it).

"Woah... Lan, you're right," he said to him. "There are viruses! And their data signatures are World Three's!"

"We've got to stop them!" Lan responded.

"Right!"

Megaman's left arm transformed into the Mega Buster and he managed to delete the Mettool and Canodumb, but the Flappy flew away. After it flew high up, it transformed into a silver weight and came crashing down on Megaman. However, the blue Navi dodged it in time, while charging up a Mega Buster shot. He took careful aim and released the shot, deleting the Flappy.

Turning to the Mr Progs, he told them, "You stay here. I'll take care of things from here."

"Alright. Good luck!"

Megaman took off and found more viruses standing in the way. He took care of them without an problem and found a panicking Mr Prog. He realized that he was in the thawing section because of the big ice block on the cyber ground.

"Megaman! Thank goodness you're here!" the Mr Prog spoke up.

"Do you know where the Ice Blocks are?" Megaman asked him.

"I have a few, but I'm too afraid to go out there and use them! Those viruses will attack me!"

"Don't worry about it," Megaman smiled. "I'll take care of things."

"You sure?"

"Very."

"Okay then," the Mr Prog said. "Use these to put out the fires on your way to the oven control area and fix the oven."

"Got it," Megaman said as he made his way. "Thanks."

Suddenly, though, fireballs were headed his way and blasted him down to the cyber ground!

"L...La...Lan..."

"Megaman? Megaman! What's wrong! Answer me, Megaman! Megaman!"

* * *

**Virus Log**

Mettools: heads with a yellow pair of feet, a yellow helmet with a green cross, beady eyes and a pickaxe used to send shockwaves

Canodumbs: green cannons on stands which fire at anything in its path and can rotate itself, but only up to 90° clockwise or counterclockwise

Flappys: gray creatures that can fly and turn into a weight to crush anything below it and are invincible in their weight form

* * *

Well, there you go. There's not much else to this part of the game. Next up is the continuation to Megaman's search for the cause of the fire, then the boss battle.

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever~


	4. A Heated Battle

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

* * *

Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 3: Thanks for the comment! Things like that prove that I'm really pleasing people. It's my goal in FanFiction: to please as many people as I can.

While playing the games can be fun, sometimes, people just want something different. Here's a little tip for you guys wishing to write novelizations: 'Don't stick exactly to your source. Think outside the box, but at the same time, don't go too far.'

* * *

**Back In The Real World...**

"L...La...Lan..."

"Megaman? Megaman! What's wrong! Answer me, Megaman! Megaman!"

There was no response from the PET. All Lan could see was a static screen. His mother shrieked in horror at the sight of the fires intensifying.

Suddenly, the PET beeped like a mobile phone, indicating a call. Lan didn't know who it was or why anyone would call him in this kind of situation, but he accepted the call anyway. A small window appeared on screen, with the panel repair man online!

"What?" Lan gasped. "You're that panel repair guy from before!"

"Ha ha ha! That was just a disguise!" the repairman cackled. "I work for World Three, laddie! The name's Mr Match!"

"So all of those oven explosions... They were your doing?"

"Heh! That's right! My Navi Fireman and I do pretty good work, eh laddie?"

"You won't get away with this, Match!" Lan snarled.

"Ha ha ha! Sorry about that, but there's no escape! You've no choice but to join your Navi!"

After letting out a laugh, Mr Match hung up, leaving the window on Lan's PET to be closed. Lan growled. He needed to do something to put out the fire! Then, he remembered something that was in the house.

"What will we do, Lan?" his mother asked fearfully.

"Don't worry, mom!" Lan told her, heading for his room. "I know something that can put out that fire!"

After he entered his room, he frantically searched everywhere for what he was looking for. From under his bed, he pulled out a tray and took out his water blaster. To Lan's relief, it was full and could shoot a good dose of water at a time. On the way out, he took an empty battle chip, just in case he comes across some data. After rushing back to the kitchen, Lan held his PET up high. Underneath, he locked and loaded. Pulling the trigger, a burst of water was released around the oven. Lan used up all of his ammunition, but luckily, the fires were calmer.

"Oh, thank goodness the fires are better!" his mother sighed in relief.

The fuzzy static on the PET cleared up and Lan could see Megaman again, albeit still on the cyber ground.

"Megaman!" he called to him. "Answer me, Megaman!"

* * *

**In The Hikaris' Oven...**

"Megaman! Answer me, Megaman!"

Megaman could faintly hear the sound of Lan's voice. He struggled to get up.

"You okay, Megaman?" he heard Lan ask him.

"A little hot, but I'm fine!" Megaman said to him. "Thanks, Lan!"

"Now, c'mon! We've gotta fix the oven!"

"Roger!"

With his newly acquired Ice Blocks uploaded to him, Megaman headed out of the thawing section. On the way to the oven control area, he saw pillars of fire. He summoned the power of the Ice Blocks and froze the fires. Then, the ice cracked and shattered, leaving nothing left. There were also waves of viruses out to Get Megaman, but he deleted them easily, taking no damage in the process.

Eventually, Megaman made it to the oven control area. The gold area of the oven had a matching dome with a lever on it. However, in front of it was a NetNavi, one of World Three's Navis to be exact. He had a torch like head with fire burning on top of it and sported a red torso. His boots were gray and tipped with red, while his gloves were a slight gold color and could morph into his trademark cannon, the Fire Arm.

"Huh? Who are you?" he grunted.

"I'm Megaman! So, you're a World Three Navi, aren't you?" Megaman assumed. "Your mischief ends here!"

"Ha! So you're the Navi for this house! You and your kid operator don't stand a chance against Mr Match and me, Fireman!"

"We won't know unless I try! Lan, you ready for battle?"

"Yeah!" Lan grinned.

"Ha ha ha!" someone laughed evilly. It was Mr Match and he was addressing Lan through his PET. "You've made it this far, laddie, but now, it's serious! Let's show them what happens when you play with fire, Fireman!"

"Ha ha ha! I'll burn you, you puny Navi!" Fireman roared as he changed his hands into his Fire Arm.

"Not gonna happen, hothead!" Megaman grinned as he prepared his Mega Buster.

The battle began with streams of flame from the Fire Arm. Megaman jumped over it and blasted away at the fiery Navi with his Mega Buster. He received a Cyber Sword from Lan and slashed at Fireman, who screamed in pain.

"Heh heh. Not bad, kid," Fireman smirked. "But I'm just getting warmed up!"

As Megaman was about to make the second slash, he was hit with the Fire Arm and was sent crashing at the control area's dome. He dodged Fireman's free fist and slashed at him again. Fireman keeled over and growled.

"Grr... That's it!" Mr Match shouted in anger. "It's time to turn up the heat, Fireman! Fire Sword! Battle chip in! Download now!"

"Heh heh heh," Fireman laughed evilly at Megaman. "Trouble's cooking for you now, kid!"

Fireman's Fire Arm cannon disappeared from his arm. In its place was a thick orange blade with fire blazing around it. Fireman swung his blade at Megaman, but he backflipped away. Fireman leaped at him in pursuit and swung his blade down at the blue Navi, sending him down to the cyber ground.

"This doesn't look good, Lan," Megaman groaned in pain, his Cyber Sword disintegrating and his normal arm coming back. "If we don't get this guy, I'm toast!"

"But we can't give up now!" Lan responded. "Quake! Battle chip in! Download!"

A ball of glowing energy formed in Megaman's right hand. He grasped it and jumped away from Fireman's Fire Sword, landed behind him and threw it in the air above Fireman.

"What now?" Fireman grunted.

Megaman swung his arm down. The energy ball changed into a silver weight and was about to crash down on Fireman, but he jumped away from it and the Quake slammed down on the ground, then disappeared.

"You think that'll work on me?" Fireman taunted Megaman.

"No, but this will!"

Megaman charged his Mega Buster. He leaped over Fireman as he charged up his Fire Arm and pointed it at Megaman. He released the blast at Fireman's back.

"Hah! That won't work! This is the end for you, laddie!" Mr Match grinned. "Get fired up, Fireman! Fire Tower! Battle chip in! Download now!"

The fire that was lit above Fireman's head instantly grew twice its size. The Fire Arm's flames burst through the gaps and Fireman slammed the cannon down the cyber ground. Two pillars of scorching hot flame shot out of the cyber ground and slid along it to Megaman. Meanwhile, Megaman backed away in horror, but he soon found himself cornered by bumping his back to the dome. The Fire Towers quickly moved along until they came in contact with each other and Megaman, releasing a huge explosion which engulfed the blue Navi.

Lan called for Megaman, but he didn't respond. He lied on the cyber ground in pain. Fireman stepped in front of him, pointing his Fire Arm at him.

"It's been fun, Megaman," Fireman grinned evilly. "But now's the time to burn you."

"Megaman! Don't give up!" Lan commanded him. "Get up! Get up!"

"It's too late, laddie!" Mr Match cackled. "Your puny Megaman will be ash when Fireman's done with him!"

Mustering up just enough strength to carry on, Megaman slowly got up. His eyes locked with Fireman's.

"Megaman! You're alright!" Lan gasped in relief.

"Let it loose, Fireman!"

"Now, Megaman!" Area Steal! Battle chip in! Download!"

Fireman released a stream of flames right at Megaman. The smoke from the small explosion that was made cleared up, but Megaman was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, Fireman was hit on the back! He turned around to see Megaman right behind him!

"Grr... I'll roast you!" the fiery Navi yelled.

"Heh. I'll put out your fire! Ready, Lan?"

"Let's do this!" Lan cheered. "Fighter Sword! Battle chip in! Download!"

Megaman grinned as his right arm was transformed into a long, powerful scarlet blade. It was Fireman's turn to step back in horror. He released flames from his Fire Arm, but they were slashed in half. Taking a leap, Megaman swung the Fighter Sword, which transformed into an extended red stream of energy, and slashed at Fireman one last time.

Fireman roared in extreme pain as he was sent flying to a corner. He turned his head to Megaman, who prepared his Fighter Sword again.

"Grr... You may have won this round," Fireman began. "But this won't be the last time we meet!"

"That's right. And anyway, we finished our mission," Mr Match added. "Yes, laddie. This is just the first step in World Three's plan!"

"What are you talking about!" Lan demanded to know.

"I found the program we need right inside the oven of your house! Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Fireman, jack out. We'll meet again, laddie!"

Fireman managed to get up and began to disappear in a blue light.

"FIREMAN, LOGGING OUT."

* * *

**Back In The Real World...**

"Wait!" Lan shouted. But it was too late. Mr Match hung up. "Darn it!"

After Megaman had pushed down on the lever and fixed the oven, he jacked out and returned to the PET.

"Well, World Three's plans may really have begun, but on the bright side, we saved the house!" Megaman said.

"Yes. Thank you, Lan!" Lan's mother said.

"No prob..." Lan said with a straight face.

"Are you worried, Lan?" Megaman asked him. "About World Three?"

"Yeah. There's so much I need to know," Lan frowned as he made his back to his room. "And you almost got deleted there!"

"I know, but it was only the first time we fought them. And they won't control the Net! Not if we can help it!"

"But Megaman, we don't even know where they'll strike next!" Lan sighed.

"C'mon, Lan. We'll wait for them to come," Megaman told him.

"I guess that's the only thing we can do..."

* * *

**A Week After The Oven Explosions...**

In the middle of one night in ACDC Town, a mysterious man stood in front of the gates to ACDC Elementary. His overly fuzzy hair covered the look in his eyes.

"Yes..." he mumbled to himself. "ACDC Elementary in DenTech City... This is the place! Soon, those rare battle chips he has promised me will be mine!"

* * *

And there you have it! The fight with Fireman novelized, just for you, guys and gals! I'm not the best at fight sequences, but I'm not terrible at them, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever~


	5. World Three's Plans

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

* * *

Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 4: I see what you're thinking with 'bringing characters to life', but I think it's more of an 'overall tip' for fanfiction of probably any kind. Also, in game sprites can be animated in different ways to bring out what different characters are like. It certainly would help with novelizations, too.

You seem to know your stuff about writing, so why not make an account and 'unleash your imagination'? You could get some tips along the way, too (here's one off the top of my head: 'Reading a story with at least reasonably good grammar is like being able to breathe normally. Don't deprive your readers of their oxygen!').

* * *

**Just Over A Week After The Oven Explosions...**

The oven accidents have passed and ACDC Town was greeted with a bright, new day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and-

"AAAAHHH!"

Lan was screaming.

"Man! Why didn't anybody wake me up!"

"I tried to, Lan! You just didn't listen!"

"Urgh... Quiet, Megaman! How much time do I have?"

"You have... Oh no! One minute, Lan!"

"Aah! I better get moving!"

"I'm just putting this out there, Lan. You should get to bed earlier."

"Really, Megaman? Really!"

Lan rushed through the school gates, ignoring the scoldings some of the teachers passing by gave him. As he entered the building, he took out his PET.

"Man... Looks like I'm late," Lan frowned.

"As always..." Megaman sighed.

"Whatever. Any mail for me?"

"What? At a time like this? Oh, alright... You have two. The first one is from NetNews. It says 'Student net crime on the rise!' The other's from Yai and says 'Are you late again? I called your name for you in homeroom, so you owe me one.' Maybe she wouldn't have had to do that if you went to bed earlier, Lan. That way, you would have gotten up earlier!"

"Must you remind me of that every few minutes?" Lan groaned. "Whatever. Let's just go."

"Finally..."

Lan walked along the corridors and up the stairs until he came across Class 5-A's back door. Unfortunately, as he peeked through the door, he noticed that everyone was still in homeroom.

"Well, a guy's gotta do it sometime," Lan grinned at Megaman.

"Oh no... You're not gonna..."

"Yep. Sneak time!"

Quietly, Lan stuffed his PET in his backpack. Then, he dropped himself to the floor, closed the door at a snail's pace and crept to his desk. Fortunately for Lan, no one noticed him. Ms Mari was busy scolding a kid who thought it would be funny to shoot his chewed up gum like a spitball. Lan resisted the urge to giggle. In any case, he made it to his seat.

In about a minute, a man in uniform with glasses and fuzzy hair entered the classroom. Ms Mari took notice of him and silenced the class.

"Class, this is Mr Higsby," she introduced the newcomer to them. "He'll my new teaching assistant for the next two weeks."

"Hello, class," Mr Higsby said to the students. "I'm Mr Higsby and I collect rare battle chips. It's my hobby! I'm looking forward to trading with you all! He he he." Afterwards, he snorted.

Meanwhile, Yai whispered to Maylu, "This new guy's kinda... scary..."

"Not really," Tory interjected. "Just sorta... Um..."

"Weird?" Maylu suggested.

"I didn't think teachers had hobbies, too," Dex mused to himself.

"Well, they do say everyone has a hobby," Lan said to him.

Ms Mari ignored all the whispering and giggling and told the class, "Let's make Mr Higsby feel welcome here, alright? That's all for homeroom."

The two teachers left to discuss lesson plans, while all the students mingled with each other until the next bell rang. However, as Lan and the gang were talking, Tory heard something suspicious outside. He didn't want to snoop in on what was going on, but his friends saw in his face that something was up.

"What's up, Tory?" Lan asked him. "Did you hear something outside?"

"Well, I thought I did," Tory answered. "Must be my imagination, though..."

A few minutes later, the next bell rang aloud, as scheduled. The teacher that entered the classroom was Mr Higsby himself.

"Um, Mr Higsby? Where's Ms Mari?" Tory asked, raising his hand.

"Huh? Oh, uh... She... uh... She got sick," the teaching assistant stuttered. "And, uh... went to the nurse's office. Yeah, that's it!" To this, Tory began to have suspicions.

"Anyway, first class will be study hall." Mr Higsby said to the class. Everyone cheered, but Higsby stopped them by adding, "But first, I want you all to do math drills! I'm be checking them later. Now, jack into the blackboard!"

Everyone groaned as they jacked their Navis in, as instructed. As the students were busy on their math drills, the teacher suddenly left the classroom. Tory was the first to notice, for Yai and Maylu were focusing on their math drills, while Lan and Dex struggled with them. His suspicions rose.

But suddenly, an alarm shattered the silence! The word 'ERROR' flashed on the blackboard in green. The class shrieked, screamed and panicked, before they heard an ominous voice speak as a silhouette of a mad scientist appeared over the error message.

"We will now announce the real goal of our plan: to control the net!"

"Lan! This must be a World Three reeducation program!" Megaman said to his NetOp.

"World Three's plan is to start something I like to call 'The EndGame'!" the mysterious voice announced. "We will take control over the entire Net and the only cure for this rotten world is... DELETION!"

Everyone gasped in horror, stuttered in confusion and shook with fear, but the silhouette paid no attention.

"To reach our goals, World Three is hiring new staff members!" he continued. "Starting from now, we will begin a new instruction program! So, children, study well and become good slaves to World Three!"

Everyone continued to panic. Lan rushed for the classroom's front door and pushed it open. But it wouldn't budge!

"Oh no! The door's locked!"

"Everyone stay calm! Gutsman and I will stop this!" Dex declared, stepping up to the blackboard.

"Dex, no!" Lan shouted.

"Lan, I know how you feel, but trust me. I can handle this! Jack in, Gutsman! Execute!"

Everyone gathered round Dex's PET to see how Gutsman did. What they saw was a group of Spookys (ghost like viruses that recovered damage over time and attacked by licking) gang up on the hefty Navi. Gutsman lunged for them and smashed his fists at them, but the Spookys teleported away. After a series of attacks from the viruses, Gutsman could take no longer.

"AAAH!" Dex screamed. "That's it! Jack out, Gutsman, before they get you!"

Gutsman did as told and returned to the PET, as Dex unplugged it.

"Lan, I think I'll leave this to you," he said.

"Well, we won't know if we can do it unless we try, right, Megaman?"

"Yeah!" Megaman responded. "Let's do this, Lan!"

"You got it! Jack in, Megaman! Execute!"

* * *

**In The ACDC Elementary Network...**

The school's different blackboards were connected together to form the 'ACDC Elementary Network'. Megaman arrived at Class 5-A's area to find it looking different than before. He and Lan assumed that World three did this, but they knew that they had to find the programs locking the classrooms' doors first.

Megaman made his way along the pale yellow cyber ground and kept his eye on any viruses that would pop up from the math themed cyberspace. Any that he came across were deleted easily with the Mega Buster. After weaving through the paths that branched out over and under each other, the blue Navi eventually came face to face with a teal set of bars. He saw a set of buttons, which he assumed were used to enter a code.

"ENTER THE CODE TO GO THROUGH," a computerized voice announced. "CODE HINT: THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS IN CLASS 5-A."

"There's twenty!" Lan told Megaman.

"Alright. I'll punch in the code."

Megaman pressed '2', which appeared in front of the bars. After pressing '0', the digit appeared to the right of it. Megaman pressed the 'CONFIRM' button and the bars faded away. After Lan escorted everyone in his class outside the classroom, he continued to operate Lan, who had come across a Beetank (beetle like viruses which shot bombs out of their cannon). Megaman slashed at it with a Cyber Sword and the Beetank was deleted.

Megaman continued to make his way through the school network until he arrived at the Library Area, where he came across a Mr Prog, who was badly damaged.

"Oh no! Hey, are you okay?" Megaman asked him.

"Urgh... I've been badly damaged by World Three, but I'll be fine," the Mr Prog assured him. "After all, I control the very important library book loan data and I'm supposed to be able to handle anything, right?"

"You shouldn't push yourself. But don't worry. I'll take care of things."

"You will? But you'll need a code to get through here. It's the number of volumes on 'The History of the World'."

"Thanks. Lan, could you check for me?"

"I'm already on it!" Lan said as he made his way to the library.

After checking and returning, Lan told Megaman that there were 30 volumes. Megaman punched in the code and he was allowed through. As he about to take a step, the Mr Prog from earlier stopped him. he was told to remember the number 'seven'. At first, it confused Megaman, but he promised to keep it in mind. After continuing along a straight path, he came across another set of bars. He knew he needed to punch in the correct code, but this time, there was no hint given.

"Hmm... Hey, Lan. Remember what that Mr Prog told us to remember?" Megaman asked him.

"Seven... Do you think this could be the code for this door?"

"I'll give it a try."

To the Navi's surprise, the way was open after he inputted '07'.

"Wow! That really worked, Lan!"

"Great! Now, let's keep going!"

"Roger."

In this part of the school network, most of the paths looked like the flat ends of pencils joined together. But what to do was still the same: bust viruses and find the cause of the problem. At the end of a long path of pencils, there was another set of bars that got in Megaman's way. The hint this time was 'the number of flower pots just outside the school building'.

"Man..." Lan sighed. "I'll be right back, Megaman."

* * *

**In The Real World...**

Lan rushed outside to where the flower pots were and was baffled at the sight of them. There were too many to count! But Lan couldn't give up. Not if he didn't want to become a World Three slave. So Lan started from one.

After he got to the twenties, he heard a woman say to him, "There are ninety nine."

Lan turned around to see a young woman with green hair, a brown headband with a swirl around it, a blue dress and brown pants and shoes.

"Ninety nine?" Lan repeated.

"Yes. There are ninety nine flower pots here. I know this because I water them everyday."

"Wow... It must be a pain to water all these flowers everyday, Sal! I mean, what if your mind suddenly went off track or something? Come to think of it, your life sounds like a difficult one to live! How do you do it?"

"I live as I do for nature," Sal smiled.

"Well, I have to head back now," Lan said, beginning to take off. "But thanks a lot! You've really saved us!"

Sal didn't know what Lan meant, but she paid it no mind and began to water the flowers.

Back with Megaman, Lan told him the code.

"Wow. Sounds pretty high," Megaman said. "You sure about that?"

"Yep."

Megaman punched in the code '99' and hoped his NetOp was correct. His wishes were granted as the way became open to him. Lan watched his Navi rush along the path and delete the viruses easily. He was near the AV Room, when suddenly, Megaman felt unsure of himself.

"Lan, I have a bad feeling about this..." he told his NetOp as he slowed his pace.

"What's wrong, Megaman?"

"I feel unstable energy near the AV Room. I think- Gaaaah!"

"Megaman! What's wrong!"

Megaman was paralyzed by a trap. The unstable energy Megaman warned Lan of must have caused it, or so Lan thought. He assured his Navi that he would check out the AV Room and dashed out of the classroom once again. The AV Room was on the ground floor, so Lan also had to rush down some stairs. Just as he was about to enter the AV Room, he was bumped by someone making his way out.

"Sorry!" the man apologized, who followed it up by snorting. Lan could tell who it was by the sound in his voice.

"Higsby! Wait! What's going on!" Lan called out, but Higsby sped up and got away. "What's with this teacher? First he ditches us while we do math drills, he didn't even try to help us when we were locked in and now this! Something's up... But now, I've gotta help Megaman!"

* * *

**Virus Log**

Spookys: evasive, ghost like viruses that attack by licking and slowly recover damage over time if not deleted quickly

Beetanks: beetle like viruses that shoot bombs with their cannons

* * *

As you can probably guess, Sal helping out Lan is a take on the anime. There'll be other situations like this with certain other characters, but for now, I think it's time to end this chapter.

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever~


	6. Bringing The School Back

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

* * *

Before I begin, I'd like to thank Kira-writer for adding this story to their story alerts and their favorites and godzillajdo and MysteriousClue for adding this story to their favorites.

Reply to Kira-writer's review of Chapter 5: I used Google Translate to translate your review to: 'I really like your story. At first, I didn't know the series, but you'll do great.' If this is correct, gracias!

Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 5: Darn. Now would be a good time to make real life NetNavis. I'm tired of anti virus programs that claim that they're 'free'. It's like they're saying 'Yeah, I know you could be keeping valuable stuff in your computer/laptop, but you still have to pay.'

Reply to xxxmega123xxx's review of Chapter 4: I'll try to keep in mind the scene changing thing, but to be honest, I don't see the difficulty in remembering where the events take place, for I state the location of the next scene and the scenes take place after one another (it may be just me, though...). Either way, I'm glad you enjoy the fic.

* * *

The AV Room had a yellow floor and was a room of many computers. For an unknown reason, Lan saw that one of them was still turned on. Taking a look, he found that the screen was frozen at the desktop background. He assumed that the memory of that computer was full.

_Well, Megaman is frozen in place right now, _he thought to himself. _And this computer's frozen. Hmm..._

Lan's theory was that the frozen computer was what made Megaman freeze in place, so he held down the power button on it until it was shut down. Then, he pressed the button again to turn it back on. Wondering if what he did worked, he returned to Class 5-A to check on Megaman.

"Megaman!" Lan called to his Navi from his PET. "You okay?"

"Lan!" Megaman responded "You got me out! Thanks!"

"No problem! Now, let's go!"

There were several paths that branched out, with more branches branching from them. However, they all held viruses and met at one point. Lan saw Megaman mae his way through and guided him in deleting the viruses along the way. Afterwards, Megaman was greeted with another set of bars that required a code. '07' was punched in and the the way was open once again.

Megaman continued his way along the pencil shaped paths until he came across another set of bars. This one, however, was a darker shade of blue than the others and Lan and Megaman noticed no set of buttons around. Instead, there was a slot to insert a type of card in.

"Why now?" Lan groaned. "Where can we get a card like that anyway?"

"Could Ms Mari have one?" Megaman suggested.

"Hmm... Maybe... I'll be right back, Megaman!"

Because Ms Mari never entered the classroom after introducing the class to Mr Higsby, Lan found that things were getting a bit difficult. However, he remembered that he bumped into Higsby earlier, who looked like he was in a rush. Thinking that it was linked to where Ms Mari was, Lan went to the bottom floor, where he saw Higsby, and searched all the rooms for his teacher.

As Lan passed the door to the Storage Room, he heard muffled cries for help. The boy rushed into the dusty room and found his tied up friend Tory! He untied his friend and ripped off the duct tape from his mouth.

"Tory! What are you doing here?" Lan asked him.

"I thought I heard Ms Mari in here," he said. "But Mr Higsby found me and tied me up!"

"What!? Then where's Ms Mari!?"

"Mmmph!" a muffled voice sounded from somewhere.

Lan and Tory began to search around until Lan found his teacher in one of the closets. He swung the door open and found his teacher tied up and unable to speak. He untied her, while Tory caught up with him and peeled off the duct tape.

"Thank you, Lan and Tory!" Ms Mari cried in relief. She took a deep breath and asked him, "But what are you doing here?"

"World Three's trying to enslave us kids!" Lan told her. She and Tory gasped at this. "And Megaman and I are trying to fix the problem! Hey, do you have an ID card?"

"What? Why, yes, I do, but why do you need it?"

"We need it to pass through! Please, Ms Mari! Let me borrow it!"

"Of course," Ms Mari smiled, handing the card over to her student. "You did save me, after all."

"Thanks!" Lan said, taking his leave. "And don't worry,! I can do this! Tory, you stay here and look after Ms Mari!"

As Lan stepped out of the room, he noticed a peculiar structure on the other side of the corridor. He realized that it was the time recorder and he noticed a slot on it. Looking at the card, he guessed that the time recorder was where to slot the card in. He slotted it in and rushed back to his PET.

* * *

**In The School Network.**..

Data surrounded the slot on the bars, revealing the ID card Lan used earlier. The bars disappeared, along with the card, signaling that the way was open. Megaman stepped into the area and searched for something suspicious. He found a huge server to his left and a NetNavi guarding it.

"Lan, this must be what's causing the reeducation program!" Megaman said. "And there's someone there!"

"Well, let's get through him!"

Megaman rushed to the server, but was blocked by the Navi. This green Navi had a head of a spherical computer server and ever changing numbers displayed on a little screen on his chest.

"I didn't think you would make it this far!" the Navi said to Megaman.

"We've got to stop the announcement program!" Megaman told him.

"Hm? But being with World Three is fun! Right, Mr Higsby?"

"Yes!" Higsby responded, which could be heard by Lan through his PET. "The boss has promised me rare battle chips! And with my salary, I can buy plenty more!"

"I knew it!" Lan growled. "And you call yourself a teacher!"

"Heh... I did feel a little bad at first," Higsby grinned sheepishly, adjusting his glasses. Then, his expression changed. "But then, I realized that I would do anything for rare battle chips!"

"But why would you buy them with World Three's dirty money!?" Lan snapped.

"Silence!" Higsby yelled. "Now, you face me and Numberman!"

"Hah! No problem!" Lan grinned. "Megaman, let's go!"

"Stop him, Numberman! We need those rare battle chips!"

Megaman began to shoot at Numberman, who took direct hits from the Mega Buster's shots. However, after recovering, Numberman raised his hands up, summoning three blue balls (which he called 'Number Balls') in front of him, with timers on them. He released them at Megaman, who sliced all three of them in half with a newly acquired Cyber Sword. Numberman's head began to glow red, signaling his rage, and he summoned and threw more of those balls at his opponent, hopefully taking him out by speed. But Megaman was just too quick for him and he slashed at the balls, destroying them, and rushed and slashed at Numberman.

"No!" Higsby shouted. "Numberman! Knight Sword! Battle chip in! Download!"

"Area Steal! Battle chip in! Download!" Lan shouted, slotting in an Area Steal chip.

Numberman's right arm morphed into the emerald green Knight Sword, longer than the Fighter Sword. Higsby's Navi didn't see Megaman anywhere, but his orange eyes and computer head glowed green and he began to calculate his enemy's new position. As soon as Megaman reappeared, he took a devastating swing of the Knight Sword and was sent flying away.

"Yes! Now we've got him!" Higsby grinned evilly. "Mega Cannon X2! Battle chips in! Download!"

Numberman's Knight Sword and left arm changed into two red cannons. He took aim and fired at Megaman with devastating force. After the blue Navi was left on the ground, Numberman walked to him, raised his hands up and spawned three ticking time bombs.

"I calculate that this will finish you off," he smirked.

"Megaman! If we're gonna beat this guy, we need to strike quickly!" Lan told Megaman as he struggled to get up.

"Don't bother!" Higsby said to Lan. "When Numberman calculates something, he's always right!"

"Well, he'll be wrong today!" Lan grinned. "Megaman! Wide Sword X2! Battle chips in! Download!"

Megaman stretched his arms out and two swords, each thicker than a Cyber Sword, took his arms' places. Just before the time bombs displayed '0', they were sliced in half and disintegrated into scrambled bits of data. Megaman got into a fighting position and began to spin like a top at Numberman. In panic, Numberman summoned and shot a wave of Number Balls, which were sliced in half like the time bombs. Megaman repeatedly slashed at Numberman while spinning and sent his opponent flying. The Wide Swords disintegrated and Megaman's arms returned.

After Numberman got up from the cyber ground, he had enough. He raised his hands up high and data gathered in two piles. The data formed dice, which fell in Numberman's hands. He threw them beside Megaman and anticipated his result.

"Ha ha ha! When the dice land, they'll explode!" he cackled. "And the power depends on the numbers rolled. If it's a double six, you're finished!"

"And what makes you think you'll be lucky?" Megaman smirked.

"Hah! I calculate a high chance of a double six!"

The two Navis stood strong. The dice remained above the cyber ground and were still spinning. In no time, they landed. The sides that stood on top were ones.

"What!?" Numberman shrieked. "That's not possible!"

"Hah!" Megaman grinned, barely feeling a thing from the exploding dice. "Haven't you heard that gambling will get you nowhere? Lan, let's finish this!"

"Yeah!" Lan cheered. "Cannon X2! Battle chips in! Download!"

Two green cannons took Megaman's hands' places. Megaman leaped over Numberman's Number Balls and blasted at him.

"Great job, Megaman!" Lan cheered. "Now, Fighter Sword! Battle chip in! Download!"

"No!" Higsby screamed. "I won't stand for this! Those rare battle chips will be mine! Numberman! Muramasa! Battle chip in! Download!"

Muramasa's strength could increase if the wielder was in worse shape. This irked Megaman, but that didn't stop him from clashing blades with Numberman. The two Navis pushed their swords forward at each other and wouldn't give up until the other went down. In the end, Numberman threw Megaman off balance. He was about to slash at him, but Megaman ducked and swung his Fighter Sword at Numberman's stomach. Numberman screamed in pain, but his NetOp ordered him to jack out before it was too late, so he fled from the battle.

"..." Higsby remained silent.

"Just admit it!" Lan told him. "You've been wrong all along!"

"You're... right..." Higsby admitted solemnly. "I shouldn't collect rare battle chips by being with World Three. I should collect them fairly, by busting viruses. I'll be good from now on, I promise!"

"That's great," Lan said. "But... You still have to pay for your crimes... So, do something to help people out, alright?"

"I will!"

"Megaman, restart the server."

"On it."

* * *

**In Front Of The Server...**

Lan, his friends and Ms Mari witnessed the main school's server flash different colors. After a few beeps, boops, bleeps and bloops, the server restarted and everything was back to normal. Everyone heard cheers of joy and relief, meaning that the announcement program had stopped.

"You did it, Lan!" Maylu cheered.

"Yay for Lan!" Tory cheered also.

"Hey, Lan. Not bad," Dex smiled.

"'Not bad'?" Yai sneered. "You mean 'great'!"

"Yeah, whatever," Dex responded.

"Megaman," Lan addressed him. "Good job."

"Heh heh. But don't relax yet, Lan."

"That's right," Ms Mari agreed with Lan's Navi. "Next up is English class!"

"Aw man!" Lan whined. "I fixed the server too soon..."

This was followed by the whole group laughing away.

* * *

It's been a while. At least, compared to how often I usually update. My computer's not being on my side, so I'm using my mother's laptop. Updates may become less frequent from here on out.

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever~


	7. Problems With The Metroline

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

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Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 6: Things aren't getting worse for me, but they remain the same, for the most part.

You could say that Lan is that kind of guy. Also, the things do seem out of place, so something would have to be up anyway.

Looking forward to the next update, huh? Here it is now! :)

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**After School...**

"Rough day today, huh?" Megaman smiled to Lan.

"Yeah," Lan answered. "Well, what do you wanna do now?"

"Well, the Metroline's opening today. Maybe we could surprise your dad down at SciLab!"

"Good idea! Let's go!"

The Metroline was just near Dex's yellow house. There was an entrance to the underground service with a picture of a train speeding by on top. Lan couldn't wait to see his dad at work in SciLab. However, just as he was about to take a step down the staircase, Tory came speeding up. Tory was heading for the Metroline to help out his father at the Waterworks, but he got word that the Metroline was having problems. He rushed home in a hurry.

"Tory! What's wrong?" Lan asked him.

"Apparently, there's been a landslide that's stopping the trains from running," he answered. "I'm gonna jack Iceman into the Net to check things out."

"The Net?"

"I asked one of the guys who works at the Metroline and they told me that the train system's run by a computer," Tory told Lan. "And when there's an accident, the safety program should stop the trains. But the program was hit by a virus!"

"What!? Did someone get in from the control room!?"

"It didn't look that way, so they must have got in through the Net."

"We've gotta find out who's causing this," Lan said. "I'll jack in, too."

"Great!" Tory responded. "Let's go!"

Lan and Tory immediately rushed to their homes and jacked their Navis into the Net.

* * *

**On The Net...**

In no time, Megaman and Iceman arrived in the ACDC Area and regrouped with each other. The two Navis overheard what had happened to the Metroline, so by their NetOps' orders, they began to search for the cause of the problem. They began their search in the 'Metroline Area', west of the ACDC Area. It was a round path which encircled the 'Central DenTech Area', making it the longest area in the entire DenTech Area. Around the path were branches of other paths, which led to other parts of the area.

Megaman and Iceman searched around, only to find a boulder ahead. Then, they heard cries for help. They assumed that it was the safety program.

"What happened!?" Megaman shouted to him.

"I... I don't know!" the Mr Prog answered fearfully. "I was just doing my job, when all of a sudden, this stone like Navi came in and smashed the cyber ground! Then, boulders fell down and trapped me here! What should I do!? If they find that I'm not doing my job, I'll be deleted! I'm too young to be deleted!"

"Hey, cool it," Iceman said to him. "We'll get you out."

"Yeah!" Megaman smiled. "All we need to do is get rid of the boulders and you'll be-"

A rumble interrupted Megaman. He and Iceman frantically turned around. Then, a shadow of a boulder appeared. A boulder crashed on the cyber ground, trapping Megaman and Iceman! From a blue light, a stone like Navi emerged. The gray Navi's torso was huge and cube shaped, but his arms and legs were more circular.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Megaman demanded from him.

"Blocking the Metroline safety program!" the Navi boomed. "So the Metroline won't open!"

"Why would you do that!?"

"To control the Net!"

"Man, not another one of World Three's cronies... Get those rocks out of there!"

"Ha ha ha! Never! And I, Stoneman, will delete all programs and Navis that interfere!"

"You're the one who'll be deleted!" Megaman shouted. "Iceman! You ready?"

"Let's freeze this guy!" Iceman grinned. "Got our chips ready, Tory?"

"You bet, Iceman! You ready, too, Lan?"

"Yeah! Let's go!"

Megaman and Iceman jumped into action. Megaman fired his Mega Buster at Stoneman, while Iceman breathed his trademark Cyber Blizzard. Unfortunately, the combined attacks left no effect on Stoneman. He laughed at them tauntingly before slamming his round hands on cyber ground, sending a wave of stones raining down at his enemies. Megaman and Iceman jumped about and narrowly dodged the rocks that came their way and attempted to damage him again, still to no effect.

Stoneman roared and towers of stone blocks formed around Megaman and Iceman, confining them to one square. Slamming his hands down again, Stoneman summoned more rocks down and they began to crash down at the two.

"Oh no! What are we gonna do?" Megaman growled.

"Tory! Do you have that Ice Punch chip with you?" Iceman asked his NetOp.

Flashing the battle chip out, Tory called out, "Here it is! Ice Punch! Battle chip in! Download!"

Iceman's right hand morphed into a giant, blue fist. After awaiting the rocks to fall closer, he raised it up, blocking the rocks that came and fell. After Stoneman shouted in shock, Iceman began to smash the stone cubes that encased him and Megaman. With rapid speed, the towers were crushed and the two Navis were free.

"Wow, Iceman! That was cool!" Megaman grinned.

"Heh heh..."

"Is that the best you can do!?" Stoneman boomed, his yellow eyes turning red. "Take this!"

The stone Navi's hands broke down into pieces of data. They floated around for a while and disappeared into the cyber ground. From where they crashed, Stoneman's arms began to rise up. After a second, they opened up, revealing two blasters. The arms rotated to turn to Megaman and Iceman and the blasters glowed green. After blinking, two lasers were shot out, which Megaman and Iceman barely dodged.

Stoneman roared, spawning more stone cubes to block his enemies' way. Megaman's Mega Buster destroyed them with charged shots, for Iceman's Ice Punch fist morphed back into his regular hand. He shot at the stone cubes and Stoneman with Ice Slashers, shards of ice which Iceman could summon and fire at will. The two continually fired at Stoneman, while dodging the lasers Stoneman's arms fired and destroying the cubes that Stoneman spawned. Apparently, Stoneman himself weakens when his arms are off. This was exploited in the battle. With each powerful chip used, Stoneman's body began to crumble. Eventually, all that was left was his head. As the last of the stone body crumbled away, Stoneman's head fell down to the cyber ground. Megaman pointed his Mega Buster at him.

"Now, get rid of those rocks," he commanded Stoneman.

"Fine. You've proved your worth," Stoneman growled, hopping over to one of the boulders that trapped the Mr Prog. He then cackled, "You fool! This is what you get for showing mercy to World Three!"

Stoneman jumped in the air and began to fade away, but Iceman quickly leaped up to him and breathed his Cyber Blizzard, freezing the stone head in place. He took it and threw it at the boulder, shattering it and deleting Stoneman.

Turning to Megaman, Iceman asked him, "Hey, you okay?"

"... Yeah. Let's get this thing back up and running!"

Megaman rapidly fired at the boulder until it crumbled away. Then, he did the same to the other boulder blocking the Mr Prog from the other side. The Mr Prog leaped with joy.

"Thank you ever so much! Thank you, you two!" he chanted. "Now I can do my job again!"

"Heh heh. No prob," Megaman and Iceman responded before they jacked out.

* * *

**In The Real World...**

"Alright, Megaman! Now we can see my dad!" Lan grinned.

"And I can go help out my father, Iceman!" Tory smiled.

The two friends regrouped at the Metroline. The people were overjoyed to hear that everything was up and running again and immediately rushed in line to buy their tickets. Children in eighth grade or below, however, didn't have to pay for theirs, so Lan and Tory waited until they received their tickets and boarded the next train.

After only twenty minutes of train travel, the two got off at their stop and exited the Metroline. There were three big buildings in sight: the Center, the Waterworks to the left and SciLab to the right. These three buildings stood on top of one man made island: Marine Harbor, an island south of ACDC Town and at the south east corner of DenTech City.

After Lan and Tory said their goodbyes and split up, Lan entered SciLab, to be greeted with a main office like front room. He saw a receptionist next to the elevator with red doors and asked her where his father was. After being told to check out his lab upstairs, Lan waited for the elevator and stepped in when it came. He punched in the floor number, the doors closed and the elevator want up, stopping at the appointed floor.

There was a corridor before Yuichiro Hikari's lab, but it wasn't a long one and Lan walked on by in no time. There was a computer area tucked in the far right corner of the salmon floored room. On the left hand side of the room was a monitor for jack in tests. What Lan wondered was why his father wasn't present.

"Lan, jack me into your dad's computer," Megaman said. "I'll leave a message for him."

"Alright. Jack in, Megaman! Execute!"

Lan typed up the message for Megaman to give to a caretaker Mr Prog and, after having the message received, jacked him out. Afterwards, by Megaman's suggestion, he headed for home.

However, on the way home, the PET bleeped. Megaman told Lan that he had new mail. Wondering who it was from, he opened it up. It was from his dad and it read 'Sorry I was too busy when you came to visit. To make up for it, here's some battle chip data for you. Enjoy!'. After Lan arrived back home, he went to his room and downloaded the battle chip data. The picture on the blank space was a Normal Navi with what looked like a Cyber Sword, but similarly colored electric sparks encircling it. Lan mused that this 'Electro Sword' could prove to be useful.

He spent the rest of the day doing his own thing, ignoring Megaman's orders to do his homework set yesterday.

* * *

Sorry for another short chapter (at least, compared to how long my chapters are usually are). This just isn't a too important part of the game. I originally intended to cut this part out, but I wanted to make additions in this novelization, not take away what's in the source material. Anyway, see you guys next chapter!

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever~


	8. No Water? No Way!

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

* * *

Before I begin, I'd like to thank Kai16Ray and ShadowBeta924 for adding this story to their favorites.

Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 7: I really didn't feel too motivated the day I wrote this chapter up, for there was nothing really going on in the first place. Maybe I could have added something to it, but thanks for the feedback. Hope you enjoy this chapter more!

PS: It's a shame you can't create an account yet. You really know what you're talking about and it all makes sense. Hope your computer/laptop/whatever gets better soon!

* * *

**A Month After The School Jacking...**

Days upon days of school have passed by Lan and friends, but outside the box, World Three net crime has grown worse. Why did they do what they did? No one knew...

"Lan! It's morning!"

Just another typical school morning for Lan. He groaned in tiredness. Megaman could make out what he said. He mentioned something about it being Saturday and how Lan wanted to sleep.

"Hmm. Guess you got me there," Megaman confessed.

"Hah."

"But..."

"Oh no. Not the 'but'."

"You have weekend class this week," the blue Navi smirked. "So, up you get!"

"Man..." Lan whined, dressing out of his PJs and into his usual attire.

Lan made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen, to see his mother looking quite worried.

"What's wrong, mom?" Lan asked her.

"The... The water's off. So, no breakfast..."

"What!? But I'm hungry! And thirsty!"

"Doesn't look like your mom can do much without water," Megaman told Lan. "Let's just get going before you're late again."

"Fine," Lan sighed, heading for the door. He stepped outside after bidding his mother farewell, to see Maylu again.

"You're late. Again," she sighed.

"Sorry, sorry!"

And so, the two friends headed for school. A few minutes of walking later, Lan heard his own stomach grumble. He needed to eat something! Before it was too late!

"Um, Maylu? Did you have any water at home?" he suddenly asked her.

"No... Wait, you too?"

"Yeah. I can't take this anymore!" Lan whined like a little child.

"I know! I couldn't even wash my face!" Maylu sighed. Before they knew it, they were at school.

"You can wash it here now," Lan assured his friend.

"I hope so..."

At the front yard, where the ninety nine flower pots were, there was a pond, which was fenced up. A statue resided next to the lily pads and cool blue water. But wait a minute. There's no water for the pond, either! Just the statue and lily pads! What in the world happened?

"Oh no! What if the whole school has no water either!?" Lan panicked.

"It might be only this neighborhood," Maylu suggested. "But still, I'm worried. I'm gonna check it out." With that, the red haired girl took off. Lan followed close behind, but the two passed Sal by the flower pots, who looked very upset.

"It's horrible," she sighed in disappointment.

"What's wrong, Sal?" Maylu asked her.

"I couldn't get any water for these flowers to grow," Sal frowned. "Soon, they might die and nature might cease to exist!"

"Well, if we don't find the cause of the problem, we'll cease to exist, too!" Lan said. "We'll deal with it when we figure it out. Don't you worry, Sal!"

"I hope you're right, Lan..."

The students in the school building weren't that upbeat, either. Everywhere Lan and Maylu went, they heard complaints about being hungry and being thirsty. They also heard some of the younger students weeping and some of the sixth graders fearing for what was to come. The fifth graders were no exception to the depression that swept over ACDC Elementary. This included Class 5-A.

"Hey, Lan. Hey Maylu," Dex and Yai greeted them in a melancholic manner.

"No water for you guys, either?" Maylu assumed.

"Yeah!" Yai suddenly snapped back. "And when I find out who did this, I'm gonna sue!" Aside from being the daughter of the owner of AyanoTech, suing could explain how Yai and her family became rich.

"I'm so thirsty, I'm not even in the mood to Net Battle," Dex continued to frown. He was always itching to pit Gutsman in a fight, but this time, it wasn't happening.

"Hey, guys. I just realized something," Lan interjected. "Where's Tory? Isn't he usually the first of us to get here?"

"Hm... Now that I think about it, I kinda smell a rat," Yai admitted. "Wait. Doesn't his father work at the Waterworks?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Oh, the nerve that guy has! He's probably the one that started this problem! That dirty-"

Luckily, the school bell stopped Yai from going onto a rant. She growled slightly. Afterwards, everyone took their seats and Ms Mari entered the classroom.

"Yo, teach!" Dex shouted impolitely and impaiently. "We ain't got no water!"

"Now, be quiet, Dex," Ms Mari told him off. "We'll talk about that now." Addressing the rest of the class (apart from Tory, of course), she began. "As you know, all of the town's water has stopped."

"Do you know why, Ms Mari?" Maylu asked, raising her hand.

"Unfortunately, I don't. And I'm not sure when it will be fixed. I'm afraid I'll have to cancel class for today." All of a sudden, some of the students began to cheer, but not before stopping after Ms Mari said that it would get them thirstier. With that, everyone headed for home.

As his friends passed by him, Lan walked slowly, speaking with Megaman.

"Do you really think the Waterworks stopped the water on purpose?" Lan asked his Navi.

"Not because they wanted to," he reminded his NetOp. "They may have been forced to do so."

"Hm..."

"Hey, let's check out the Waterworks and see if they know what's wrong," Megaman suggested.

"Yeah. Let's go," Lan responded nonchalantly.

During the train ride to Marine Harbor, Lan decided to call up Tory to see what was wrong. There was no response. Lan pondered on why this was so. Tory always answered his calls. Regardless, after he arrived at Marine Harbor, he headed for the Waterworks. Lan saw a waiting lobby as soon as he entered, walled off with shelves of books and a TV set. There were also some vending machines nearby, but they were empty for now. It wasn't important, anyway.

There were two receptionists, each with their own receptionist table. Lan noticed that the one to his left was clearly packed, hearing complaints as he passed it in favor of the other one. This one was not so busy. However, there was a boy who looked older than Lan in front of him. He wore camo pants and a scarlet vest over a black shirt. His hair was like nothing Lan had seen. The sides of this boy's hair was black, but the top of it was white. Lan heard this boy talking with the receptionist in front of him.

"Therefore, a check of the Waterworks is needed."

"You're an Official Net Battler, right?" the woman said to him. "If you could show me your ID card-"

"Here," the mystery boy interrupted her, handing her his ID card. She took a look at it.

"I see... Very well. Insert your card to use the elevator next to you. It will take you around the works."

"Thank you." The boy turned around for the elevator, but he caught sight of Lan. "What's a kid like you doing here?" he scowled. "You're in the way." He pushed him slightly before leaving.

"What's his problem?" Lan growled quietly.

"I dunno," Megaman spoke up. "But did you hear that? He's an Official Net Battler. They fight net crime and can Net Battle anywhere they want. I wonder what kind of Navis they use..."

"Who cares? Let's check out the Waterworks!"

"But Lan! Don't you need an ID card?"

"Darn... Where are we gonna get one?"

Lan left the Waterworks building, thinking about where an ID card would be. Realizing that his father must have kept one somewhere and against Megaman's protests, Lan went to SciLab to 'borrow' it for a while. Lan was warned that his father would get angry, but went against Megaman's warning and took it anyway.

Returning to the receptionist, he noticed that she was very busy with some paperwork. Lan showed her the ID card, in hopes that she would let him in. She took a glance at the card, but not the person, and immediately let Lan through. He used to card to open the elevator and stepped in. At once, it went up a floor. Lan exited, but he was stopped by one of the scientists there.

"This area's for staff only!" he scolded the child.

"Um... ACDC Town's water supply has stopped," he told him calmly.

"Yeah, I know," the scientist said. "Apparently, there's a bug in the pump program. We're doing our best to remove it, so the problem should be fixed soon."

"Oh, okay. Thanks."

"It would have been bad if it were a World Three scheme. Thanks for coming down to tell us."

"No prob," Lan smiled, taking off to head for home. Megaman, who had overheard what was happening, had suspicions.

It was strange that a Net Battler would check out a bug. Also, it wasn't just the water that was missing. Both Lan and Megaman agreed that the problem would be hard to fix. However, they decided to look into it anyway. But they couldn't do it with the staff around. They needed a hiding spot for now. The waiting lobby would have to do. Luckily, there was no one else around. Since the Waterworks building closed at noon on weekends, the complainers and the staff all left at that time. Lan hid behind one of the chairs, not being caught by anyone. As soon as the coast as clear, he headed for the elevator, which was still operating.

Lan took a look around the higher floor, but his ears caught the sound of typing. Lan's ears pressed on a locked door with a red label on it, to find that the typing came from there.

"Whoever's in there must be using a PC, Lan," Megaman said to him.

"We can't check out the network like this! I'll find someplace to jack you in to!"

Lan took another look around the area. There was a receptionist table, but the woman was not present. After taking a look around the table, Lan found nothing to jack in to. He headed for the elevator and found a water cooler near it.

"Hey, this will do the trick, Megaman!" Lan said to him, noticing a jack in port.

"Let's do it!"

"Yeah! Jack in, Megaman! Exe-"

"Hey!" Suddenly, a shriek from a woman stopped Lan.

_Uh oh... Busted..._

The woman in front of Lan had pink hair with 'ponytails' that spiked out a little. Her white shirt had orange sleeves and her pants had green and blue horizontal stripes.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded to know.

"Um... I... Uh... I got lost..."

"I see." Apparently, she bought it. "Well, you're not supposed to be in here. So go home! Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Lan immediately affirmed.

"Good boy," the woman grinned suspiciously, patting Lan on the head before heading for the door that the typing came from. Lan motioned towards the elevator and used it to go back down.

"We're not going home after that, are we?" Megaman asked him.

"Heck no!" Lan answered. "I needed to protect my cover!"

"Well, let's do it!"

"Of course!"

Lan used the elevator again to go up to the higher floor. After noticing that the strange woman was absent, he headed for the water cooler.

"Let's go! Jack in, Megaman! Execute!"

* * *

Short chapter plus longer wait than usual equals disappointment for you and failure for me. Well, I wanted to begin the whole Waterworks Area thing next chapter. It seems quite fitting. Also, the reason it took this long was because I was finishing up another fic I have elsewhere on this site and I put all my focus on that. Plus, I was sorting out stuff in my life (nothing major, just little things here and there). High school will finally begin for me in one and a half weeks' time, so updates may be held back even further.

In any case, see you guys next chapter!

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever~


	9. A Cold As Ice Rival

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

* * *

Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 8: At least a year, huh? Then you must know quite a lot about fanfiction. If there's anything you don't understand, though, I might be able to help. Do you know your terminology? Do you know who to stay away from? XD

I appreciate the support. I leave reviews and post on forums here and there, so I expose myself quite a bit, though I'm sure that's not enough. Still, I don't want to follow the trend when it comes to my fics. Over at the Sonic fandom, high school fics seem to be a main attraction and overshadow what could be more worthy of the fame. Over at Fire Emblem, novelizations of the seventh game are abound. I don't know why either of the cases occur, but the rant is for another time.

Speaking of high school, it's gonna be torture on me and my fics. Still, I'll try to balance things out. Just know that I'm most likely to update on weekends, though no day is guaranteed.

Thanks for following. On with the show!

* * *

**In The Waterworks Network...**

The cyberspace was dark blue with bright images of water droplets which stood out from the dark. The cyber ground was mostly made up of brown platforms with green pipe like bridge structures connecting them. Seemed ordinary, right?

"Funny... It's frozen here," Megaman mused, noticing that some of the platforms and bridges were encrusted with sheets of ice as he took a walk around. "No Navis, no Mr Progs... What!?"

"What's wrong, Megaman!?"

There were indeed some Mr Progs scattered about, as far as Megaman could see, but they were frozen!

"One of the guys said that they would be debugging!" Lan said. "Why are they frozen, then?"

"I smell a rat, Lan," Megaman warned his NetOp. "But I'll go and find the water supply and see what's wrong now."

"Let's do this, Megaman."

Megaman began to head forward through the bridge. It was the only thing to walk on to in order to progress. The blue Navi took it slowly, step by step, as he was walking on ice, and he didn't want to slip! He continued to walk along in this manner until he came across a stream of water. At first, he was shocked, but he took a look upwards to see that it was coming from a large tap. On Lan's advice, he decided to find a way to turn it off. Conveniently, there was a path which branched off and upwards to the tap, so Megaman gingerly stepped to it. There was no ice on this side path, so he paced normally.

Suddenly, two blue clusters of data began to form on top of the slope. Megaman formed his Mega Buster, ready for the viruses that were to come. The groups of data formed into two VolGears. Their bodies were big gray mouths. They had flames for limbs and gray pointed hats. One of the VolGears had red flames and a red face, while the other had blue flames and a blue face. They didn't look too challenging, but the moment they opened their mouths, two pillars, one of fire and one of water, surged upwards and began to rush down the slope at Megaman. But he just stood there.

"Megaman! Do something!" Lan commanded him. "The Fire Tower and Aqua Tower are heading straight for you!"

"Heh heh. Watch," Megaman said to his NetOp.

Megaman awaited the two towers to home in on him. They did so. Megaman smirked. The Fire Tower and Aqua Tower suddenly collided with each other and a huge cyber smoke cloud covered the area. The smoke eventually cleared. Megaman and the VolGears still stood on the opposite ends of the slope. There was a silence.

"Oh, I get it!" Lan said, breaking the silence. "Water puts out fire in the cyberworld, too!"

"See, Lan? I had nothing to worry about," Megaman responded. To the VolGears, he taunted them, "Maybe you two don't work so well together after all! Don't worry, I'll separate you from each other!"

The viruses showed off a panicked look on their faces as Megaman charged his Mega Buster. He rapidly fired at the red VolGear, deleting it in an instant. In immense fear, the blue VolGear hopped away. Megaman let it go, for it left the area and probably vowed to never harm anything again.

"Well, that was easy," Lan realized. "But enough of that. Let's turn off that tap, Megaman."

The Navi made his way up the slope and continued to his right, to where the tap was. Gripping the handle with his two hands, he turned it counterclockwise. The water flow shrunk gradually until it stopped completely. Megaman headed back the way he came and continued along the main path. A few steps later, he came across an ice encrusted crossroad. Ice was one thing, crossroads were another, but the two put together didn't appeal to Megaman at all. Taking a wild guess, he cautiously stepped along the left path, only to find a dead end brown platform. he headed back and tried the middle, only to encounter a blue VolGear. It was deleted quickly, but it was a minor nuisance regardless. After returning back, Megaman headed for the right path, the only path left.

"This place can get pretty confusing," he mused along the way. "Probably to keep away intruders..."

"Well, we're here to save this place! Why do they have to make things difficult for us?" Lan groaned.

"Nothing is ever fair, Lan," Megaman sighed. "The best thing we can do is just go along with it."

"You know, Megaman, I have a feeling we'll be doing this a lot more often."

"Do what?"

"Saving the day! I mean, the house and the school were safe thanks to our actions, but what if there are a lot more problems and we're the only ones who can fix them?"

"You're just being paranoid, Lan. There shouldn't be any more problems after this one."

"Let's hope so, at least..."

After a few minutes of crossroads, taps and viruses, Megaman encountered a Navi! yes, a Navi in the frozen Waterworks Network! This red Navi's white hair flowed down. His helmet had a fin spiking upwards and a white ring surrounding the bottom of it. He wore shades, which he could see through with his eyes. There was an emblem on his red chest: a yellow circle split in a thunderbolt pattern into black and white sections. This could also be seen on the back of his red gloves. At this moment, he had a Cyber Sword ready, but it was purple, unlike the regular blue sword.

"Who are you?" he demanded to know.

"That's no Waterworks Navi!" Megaman said to himself.

"He must be part of World Three!" Lan warned him. "Watch out!"

At that moment, the mysterious Navi lunged for Megaman and swung his sword at him, only to be barely dodged.

"What are you doing!?" Megaman shouted.

"You dare call me one of those World Three lackeys?" the Navi growled.

"What's the matter, Protoman?" a voice asked him. Apparently, the mysterious Navi was called Protoman and the voice belonged to his NetOp. Even so, the voice sounded strangely familiar to Lan.

"Chaud, sir!" Protoman addressed him.

"You! From before!" Lan called out to the same person.

"What? You again?" the boy grunted. "You lost or something? Because I can tell you're definitely not an Official Net Battler."

"Do I sound lost to you?" Lan retorted.

"Fine. I guess I'll introduce myself. The name's Chaud Blaze and my Navi here is Protoman."

"Get out of the way or I'll delete you, kid," Protoman threatened Megaman.

"You can't just delete whoever's in your way!" Lan snarled.

"I can and have the power to do so, Chaud replied nonchalantly. "But I can't waste time with you now. I have a job to do. I'll deal with you later. Protoman, jack out!"

"Yes, sir!"

"PROTOMAN, LOGGING OUT," a computerized voice announced as Protoman disappeared in a blue light.

"What an attitude that guy has," Lan growled.

"Lan, calm down," Megaman told him. "Getting angrier will make you thirstier."

"Fine... You're right," Lan sighed. "Let's go."

"Roger."

Megaman continued to make his way round the convoluted maze known as the Waterworks Network when out of nowhere, blue bits of data appeared in front of and to the sides of him. He pointed his Mega Buster in front of him and turned around cautiously. The viruses that spawned were Piranhas, but unlike the real world's carnivorous fish, they took turns shooting arrows at Megaman. He only got hit once, but it was a minor wound which would recover itself. The Navi warped behind the leftward Piranha with Area Steal and slashed at it with a Cyber Sword, deleting the virus. Maneuvering around the arrow shots, he slashed at the rightward Piranha and swung his sword at the last one, slicing them both in half and deleting them.

"Megaman! That arrow didn't hurt too bad, did it?"

"Nah. It's all good, Lan."

After that encounter, Megaman continued rightward (in relation to where he was originally headed, of course), then turned right from where the paths branched off. What he found was a tap with water running. However, there was something off about that one.

"Hm? How did the handle come off?" Megaman wondered out loud.

"What? Well, it doesn't matter for now," Lan said to his Navi. "Let's find another way."

After heading back to where he encountered the Piranhas, Megaman decided to head straight. Continuing along the correct path (or so he and Lan assumed), he saw more bits of data, signaling viruses were about. This time, the viruses were a Fishy (green jet bird like viruses which keep charging back and forth at attackers) and a Puffy (puffer fish like that blew bubbles, which bounced about and could explode in contact with attackers). The Puffy fired a bubble and Megaman kept jumping out of its way, but the bubble homed in on the Navi as it kept bouncing. The Fishy took aim and blasted off at Megaman and landed a direct hit. The virus charged backwards for a second hit. Megaman got up easily, however, and barraged at the Puffy with Mega Buster shots, taking the bubble down with it, for he knew that the bubble would get in the way. He received a Wide Sword from Lan and awaited the Fishy's attack. The green virus charged forward, but was sliced on half.

"You okay, Megaman?" Lan asked him. "That Fishy virus attack looked like it hurt a lot."

"No cuts or anything," Megaman reassured him as he kept walking. "I'll be fine."

After a long pathway, Megaman finally arrived at the pump. It was a huge structure, albeit in a very frozen state as of that moment. A voice was then heard.

"So, you're the ones behind this!"

"Huh?" Megaman looked for the source of the noise, to find a Navi confronted with two ColdBears, polar bear like viruses with blue jackets around them. This hunched over Navi resembled a shark, but with two legs instead of a tail. Appropriately, he was called Sharkman.

"Unfreeze the pump and I won't have to delete you!" Sharkman yelled at the ColdBears.

"Sharkman!" Megaman called for him.

"Hm?" Sharkman turned around and found Megaman. "Well, if it isn't Megaman!"

"Sharkman? Then, that means..." Lan began.

"Yep! It's me!" a voice called to Lan, who recognized the voice. The two knew each other for a while and last fought alongside each other against a minor World Three attack on DenTech Town Aquarium.

"Maysa! But how did you get Sharkman in here?"

"Shhh. I'm hiding in the basement of the Waterworks," Maysa answered in a hushed tone.

"Wait. There's a jack in port for this place there? And there's a basement I didn't know about!?"

"Yep. Behind the- hey, that reminds me. How did you get in here?"

"The water cooler upstairs."

"What? But don't you need an ID card to get up there?"

"About that..."

"Well, it doesn't matter now, boy. These guys ain't gonna unfreeze the pump, so we're gonna have to delete 'em!"

"Ha! Let's do this!"

The ColdBears shot blocks of ice at Megaman and Skarkman, but they were either dodged easily or broken through by Sharkman's Fin Cutter attack, a fin shaped projectile attack that he could fire from his fins. The Fin Cutter knocked a ColdBear away and Megaman took advantage of this by shooting that same one with a charged Mega Buster shot. The other ColdBear, however, was persistent enough to keep shooting ice blocks at the two Navis, but it only resulted in failure. A combined attack from a Cannon shot and another Fin Cutter was all that it took to finish the job.

"That was all they got?" Sharkman smirked. "Too easy! Right, Megaman?"

"Yep! Piece of cake!" Megaman smirked also. "Hey, Lan! We did it!"

The two Coldbears were indeed linked to the freezing of the pump. The ice shrouding it began to disintegrate. Bit by bit, the ice disappeared until all that remained was the big pump itself.

"We did it!" Lan cheered. "Thanks for the help, Maysa!"

"Aw, I didn't do much," Maysa laughed sheepishly. "But hey, let's go check out the water! Maybe all the fish will be happily swimming now!"

"I hope so, too."

* * *

**Outside The Waterworks...**

There was a pond to the left of the Waterworks. Like the school's pond, it was normally clear and clean. What made it different from the school's was that there was a fountain at the center. It was a statue of a fish with an open mouth and water rushed up from the mouth and down into the pond. Because of the water problems, it was in an empty state the whole morning. Not even the fish poured out the clear liquid from its mouth.

But because the pump was fixed, the water should be back, right? Well, the water did come back, but not the way Lan and Maysa expected it to.

It was polluted.

* * *

**Virus Log**

VolGears: gray mouth viruses which open themselves to fire their attacks; those with red flames fire Fire Towers and those with blue flames shoot Aqua Towers (putting the two together isn't a good idea)

Piranhas: fish like viruses which shoot arrows from their mouths (usually come in pairs or trios)

Fishys: green jet bird like viruses which charge back and forth at its enemies to attack

Puffys: puffer fish like viruses which blow bubbles that bounce, closing in on enemies, and explode on contact with them

ColdBears: polar bear like viruses with blue jackets which shoot blocks of ice at its enemies

* * *

I'm not sure if you enjoyed the addition of Maysa and Sharkman as much as you enjoyed the addition of Sal (but not Woodman, yet). In fact, I'm not sure if you enjoyed any of the additions. But whatever. If this novelization has become too much like the anime to you, then I intentionally diverted from the game a bit, but not intentionally that far, so I apologize in advance.

Like the idea of virus logs in this? I thought it would be a neat little thing to throw in at the end of whatever chapter Megaman encounters a new type of virus. I could elaborate more on the viruses, but they're meant to be brief little snippets of info.

Anyway, see you next chapter!

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever~


	10. Friends VS Friend!

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

* * *

Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 9: You seem to be a fan of character interaction. Not that it's a bad thing. Character interaction is a very good thing indeed.

To be honest, the additions of Sal (but not her Navi, not yet) and Maysa (plus Sharkman) were last minute additions, along with the third member of the trio, which we'll get to later. Like Tory, they have little to nothing to do with the game, but have much bigger roles in the anime. Because I gave Tory a bigger role in this novelization, I decided to do so with Sal, Maysa and the third person of their little trio. Think there's too much characters written in?

The terms you've mentioned may be the basic ones, but they are very important. When it comes to fanfiction, you may talk the talk, but I have a feeling you can walk the walk, too. Wait. Which way round does it go? Whatever. You get what I mean.

* * *

Lan and Maysa were devastated at the sight they saw at the Waterworks' pond. They noticed that while there was water...

"It looks really nasty..." Maysa frowned, seeing that the liquid was not clear and clean, but a putrid purple. Wait. Maysa took a closer look at the water. "Are those little chunks of garbage floating about!?"

"Eeeww!" Lan groaned, disgusted at the sight.

A passerby crawled along the ground beside Lan and Maysa. Apparently, he was on the verge of fainting, due to a lack of water. But what would happen to him? Well, he found something to drink, but...

"Urk!" was all the man could 'say' before finally falling unconscious to the ground. To Lan and Maysa's defense, they did warn him that it was bad water, but it was too late.

"You've done it now," a voice said to the two from behind. They turned around.

"Chaud!"

"Now people will be drinking polluted water, not knowing that it's polluted! The real problem was in the filtering program! This is all your fault, Lan!"

"..."

"And you," Chaud continued, now addressing Maysa. "You just had to get involved in this, didn't you? This is your fault, too! I would stay here, but I have to get back to work. Stay out of my way!" Chaud left the scene.

"Grr... Who do you think you are!?" Lan shouted at him. "Some nerve you have!"

"Lan! Shouting won't fix anything!" Maysa told him. "Try to calm down, will ya?"

"Sigh... You're right."

"Now, let's go and find that filtering program!"

"Right!"

But there was one problem. Where in the Waterworks Network was the filtering program? Sharkman reminded Maysa of that tap without the handle they saw earlier, to Lan and Megaman's shock.

"You saw it, too?" Lan asked him.

"Yeah," Maysa answered. "And I have a hunch that the filtering program is past that! What we need to figure out now is how to get there..."

The two returned to the Waterworks and Maysa showed Lan the basement he was talking about; the entrance was hidden under one of the plants kept in the building. Lan followed Maysa down the steps, to find himself greeted by a dimly lit room. At the far corner, there was a monitor with some jack in ports. Opposite that was a locker. What that was used for was unknown. Lan assumed that it was used to store some sort of equipment. From there, he couldn't help but hear a noise. At first, Maysa couldn't hear it, but his ears picked it up a few seconds later. He recognized that noise.

"But you didn't do anything about it?" Lan sighed.

"I-I thought it was a ghost!" Maysa blurted out.

"You still believe in them, Maysa?"

"That one time I told you about really happened! I swear on my life!"

"Sigh... Let's just open the locker." Lan was about to reach for the handle, but noticed a padlock around it. "Darn. Now, we need to find a key... Maybe the guy who locked whoever's in there dropped it somewhere."

Lan and Maysa found difficulty in searching for the key. The darkness didn't help much. The only decent source of light was the working monitor. Lan decided to check under it. He heard a jingling sound as his hands felt along the floor. He grabbed whatever the object was and pulled it out. What Lan saw were keys.

"Ah, found it!" Lan grinned.

"Now why would they put the keys in there?" Maysa wondered aloud, questioning the sense of logic the guy had.

Regardless, Lan inserted the key in the padlock and twisted it around. The lock was released and the doors could be open. There was a man inside the locker. He looked like he could have been in his late thirties and wore a blue work attire. Apparently, from the look on his face, he recognized Lan.

"Oh, you must be Tory's friend! Thank you for saving me!"

"No prob," Lan replied. "You must be Tory's father."

"Ah heh heh... I would have helped ya out there," Maysa laughed sheepishly. "But I thought it was a ghost, so yeah..."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Dr Froid chuckled. "It could have been a ghost!"

"See, Lan? It's not just me who believes in them!" Maysa bragged. "Now, pay up!"

"Uh, we never made a bet," Lan said. "And he could have been joking about the ghost thing."

"Dang it!"

"But now's not the time for jokes," Dr Froid stated. "We've got to stop my son from helping World Three!"

"What!?" Lan gasped. "So that's where he was!"

"Here, take this," Dr Froid said, handing over a chip. But it didn't look like a battle chip.

"What is this?"

"You can download a handle for taps in the Waterworks Network. I've heard that World Three broke one off, so this might help."

"Oh, that tap!" Maysa realized. "We'll get right to fixing the filer program now!"

"Iceman might be there," Lan assumed. "We have to stop him! Let's jack Megaman and Sharkman in now!"

"Right!"

"Thanks for helping us out, mister!" Lan said to Dr Froid.

"It was the least I could do," he smiled. "I would stay here, but I have something important I need to do. Could you give a message to my son for me, if you see him?"

"What's the message?"

Dr Froid typed up the message on Lan's PET and saved it, saying to Lan and Maysa, "I'm sorry that I can't do anything more."

"Don't worry about it," Lan smiled. "We'll get Tory back before you know it!"

* * *

**Back In The Waterworks Network...**

Luckily, the jack in ports in the real world took Megaman and Sharkman to the point the Piranhas attacked Megaman, making going to the tap without its handle easier. The two Navis retraced their steps to the tap and arrived there without any problems. There were a wave of viruses or two, but they were taken care of easily.

"Well, Lan. I think it's time to put that handle back," Megaman said.

"I agree. I'll send it to you now."

The chip was slotted into the PET and in Megaman's hands was a tap handle, one which resembled the others. The blue Navi had no problem fitting it in and turning the handle, so the way was cleared easily. Megaman and Sharkman continued along the maze, walking along winding paths and deleting any viruses that came their way. Eventually, they came across an area in the network filled with crossroads, dead ends and paths which would take the two Navis back to the beginning. They tiptoed across the ice, so they wouldn't slip and end up in the wrong places, but the sheer amount of times they had to do so drained away their patience.

"Uuuurrrrrgh! How long does this thing go on!?" Sharkman groaned.

"Even if it is to protect the filtering program from intruders, isn't this a bit much?" Megaman even groaned also.

"C'mon, now! Remember who you're doing this for!" Maysa reminded them in an attempt to perk up their spirits. It definitely didn't make the two Navis feel that much better, but it got them going nevertheless.

Eventually, after what seemed like forever, Megaman and Sharkman finally caught sight of the filtering program, albeit it was frozen. Suddenly, the sounds of combat shook them awake. A thud was then heard. The two Navis didn't hesitate in rushing forward. They found Iceman down! A blade was pointed to the little Navi. It was Protoman's Cyber Sword!

"It's over," he said to Iceman before catching a glimpse of Megaman. Turning to him, he sighed, "You again?"

"I told you not to interfere!" Chaud growled.

Iceman, still on the cyber ground, saw an opportunity to attack Protoman. Getting up, he shot his trademark Ice Slasher at the red Navi, but the shard of ice was barely dodged.

"So, you still have some fight in you, huh? Well, how about-" Protoman suddenly stopped. He felt something. "Lord Chaud, it seems you have mail from HQ."

"Hm?" Chaud decided to check it out. He let out a growl afterwards. "We've been had, Protoman. You've been fighting a decoy! There's a World Three Navi somewhere in here and they're after the Aqua Program!"

"The Aqua Program?" Lan repeated. From the sound of his voice, it was clear that he had heard of it before.

"We need to find this Navi and stop him!" Chaud told Protoman.

"Yes, sir!" With that, Protoman's Cyber Sword turned back into his arm. Carrying out his orders, he left the battlefield.

"Iceman! Why are you doing this!?" Megaman demanded to know after he was gone.

"I'm sorry, Megaman..." the little Navi responded sadly.

"What are you talking about?" Sharkman asked.

"World Three has my father..." the sound of Tory's voice answered. "If I'm going to get them back, I have to do as they say."

"Tory! You have to listen to me!" Lan shouted.

"I'm afraid I can't," Tory responded. "I have to protect my father!"

"But Tory!"

"Lan, we have no choice," Maysa told Lan. "We have to fight your friend. He's not listening."

"But-"

"Sharkman! Get him!"

The shark Navi immediately lunged for his opponent, despite Megaman's protests, and slammed his shoulder at him, following up with a Fin Cutter. After taking the hit, Iceman somersaulted and landed on his two feet, shooting Ice Slashers at his enemy, but the ice shards were dodged.

"Hah! Is that all you got!?" Sharkman taunted him, firing another Fin Cutter. To counter, Iceman shot another Ice Slasher. The two projectiles exploded on collision.

Even midst the cyber smoke, the fighters still fired volleys of Fin Cutters and Ice Slashers, which all collided and broke apart. When the smoke cleared away, Sharkman and Iceman rushed at each other and traded blows in rapid speed. Meanwhile, Megaman, standing by the sidelines, only watched in horror. Ice Punch chips were given to the fighting Navis by their NetOps and the large fists collided with each other. The force from the Ice Punches pushed the Navis away from each other. It seemed like an even match, but Iceman saw an opening and gained the upper hand by shooting an Ice Slasher right at Sharkman's stomach. Sharkman was knocked back and took the combined force of several more Ice Slashers. It was then that Sharkman began to struggle and not be able to keep up with the speed of Iceman's attacks. Megaman couldn't watch anymore. He lunged ahead and tackled Iceman down to the cyber ground.

"Well, well. Look who finally decided to make a move," Sharkman smirked.

"I don't want to do this to you, Iceman," Megaman told Iceman, ignoring Sharkman's comment. "But you just won't listen to me!"

Iceman made no comment. He remained silent as he leaped away from Megaman and fired another Ice Slasher at him.

"You, of all Navis, should be able to understand!" Iceman yelled from afar.

"But Iceman- Aaaahh!" He was tackled in the stomach, then beaten down by a flurry of punches.

"It shouldn't have come to this," Megaman said after recovering. "But it has. Sharkman! You ready?"

"You bet!" Sharkman grinned.

"Now we're talking!" Maysa grinned also. "Aqua Tower! Battle chip in! Download!"

"Electro Sword! Battle chip in! Download!" Lan shouted.

While Megaman's right hand turned into a sword with sparks surrounding it, Sharkman slammed his fin like hands down, summoning a pillar of water rushing at Iceman.

"That won't work!" Tory said. "Ice Tower! Battle chip in! Download!"

Iceman slammed his right hand down to summon a towering icicle to rush at Sharkman. The two attacks crashed into each other and a mist burst out, covering everything around it. As soon as it disappeared, a huge icicle towered over the Navis around it. Megaman then rushed in with his Electro Sword and slashed it away. Afterwards, he lunged for Iceman and swung his blade at him, only to have the attack dodged in a backflip. After landing in his feet, Iceman placed a cupped hand to his mouth and breathed his Cyber Blizzard. Megaman leaped upwards, avoiding being frozen by it, raised his Electro Sword high and swung it downwards at his opponent, who screamed in pain after taking the slash. Iceman keeled over his right hand supporting him from falling down.

"Why...? Why don't you understand, Megaman?"

"Iceman, read this," Megaman responded, a slip of paper appearing in Megaman's hand. Iceman took the slip of paper to find a message written from Dr Froid.

"This... This is from my father..." Tory realized.

"Do you get it now, Tory? Your father's safe," Lan assured him.

"Man... After what I've done... I guess all I can do is set things straight. Iceman, unfreeze the filtering program."

"On it."

Iceman stepped towards the frozen program. After exhaling once more, he took a deep breath in, chipping away the ice covering the structure. Bit by bit, the ice chipped away, until there was none left.

"I'm sorry, Lan," Tory apologized. "Iceman, jack out."

"ICEMAN, LOGGING OUT," a computerized voice declared, as the winter Navi disappeared from the area in a blue light.

Suddenly, an alarm blared! Megaman and Sharkman frantically turned around for the source of it. After heading back the way they came, they found Protoman confronting another new Navi. This one was resembled a clown, but he bounced on a ball that took the place of where legs would be. For his structure, this multicolored Navi had tall and skinny arms. He held a shining blue orb in his hand.

"Put down the Aqua Program, or else," Protoman threatened him. The blue orb was the program in question.

"Now, now. We don't have time to play with you right now," he responded in his wacky clown like voice. "But you will face me, Colorman soon! Time for me to jack out, Maddy! Ho ho ho ho ho!"

"COLORMAN, LOGGING OUT."

Protoman, noticing Megaman again, turned to him and groaned, "You again..."

"Why were they the Aqua Program, Chaud?" Lan asked.

"Why would I waste time talking to you?" Chaud snarled. "We're out of here, Protoman. Jack out."

"Roger."

"PROTOMAN, LOGGING OUT."

"I wonder why World Three wanted the Aqua Program," Megaman said.

"I'm not sure," Sharkman grunted, taking a step away. "I'll see you again soon."

"SHARKMAN, LOGGING OUT."

"Megaman, let's go see Tory," Lan said to him.

"Yeah."

* * *

**Later, In An Unknown Location...**

In a location unknown to ordinary citizens was a base. In that base was a checkered room with a board at the front of it. To its left were four platforms, which were green, red, yellow and blue. Right in front of the board was a table. Behind the table was an elderly man with an optic. There were three others in front of the table: Mr Match, Maddy and an electricity lover called Count Zap.

"Grr... All our plans in DenTech City have failed recently!" the elderly man growled. "This will slow down the entire plan to control the Net! What is the problem!?"

"Our apologies, Lord Wily!" Mr Match spoke up. "It's just..."

"What!? Speak up!" Lord Wily commanded him. Maddy and Count Zap turned to Match.

"There's... There's this one Navi-Operator team who-"

"Hmph! An Official Net Battler, I assume?"

"N-No! It's just a boy! By the name of Lan, and he has this powerful Navi called Megaman! We can't do anything with him around!"

"World Three's Navis can handle anything!" Wily shouted. "No excuses!"

"But-"

"Silence! Silence!" Wily roared, repeatedly slamming the table down. "No more failures! Delete everything in your way!"

"Heh. Leave it to me, sir," Maddy grinned, bowing to her leader. "I have a plan."

"Then what are you waiting for? Get to it!" With that, Lord Wily took off, along with his right hand man Yahoot, who was apparently observing the entire scene beside the table.

"Must we get every Super Program by ourselves?" Maddy sighed behind their backs.

"It's for that thing," Count Zap told her. "That thing we're not even supposed to know the name of. It's too much of a shocking secret, after all!"

"I know, I know," Maddy groaned. "Well, back to work."

* * *

Bet you didn't expect an update this early! Well, I wanted to squeeze in as many updates as I could before school starts. It's unhealthy for me to not think about preparing, yes, but that's no excuse to be late to please my dear readers!

Anyway, next up is something special. Some original content! Gasp! In fashion of my Mario spin off novelization, fillers will be shorter than chapters on the actual story. See you guys for that!

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever~


	11. Don't Worry About It!

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

* * *

Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 10: I'm sure you'll be able to work out the kinks, just as I have many times before. It may be a tedious process, but it's worth it in the end (unless, of course, some snobby critic comes along and breaks down all your work anyway, but I digress).

* * *

**Two Days After The Waterworks Incident...**

It was just another school day and this time, Tory was present, but something was off about him. He often kept his eyes down at his desk in class and kept telling everyone that he was fine, even though he wasn't. During recess, he stood at the shaded corner of the playground alone, but no one knew why. What no one knew was that Tory was buried deep in his thoughts.

_Why am I here, even after all I've done? It's all my fault... What if someone finds out it was me? What if someone finds out I was the one who stopped the water from running? Everyone will hate me!_

Tory wasn't normally this down in the dumps, but neither was he an energetic boy. He kept a constant calm nature. But what he did brought even himself down. The worst thing was that someone would eventually rat out on him. You could say that the stress of it all was what was actually bringing him down. Lan and the others tried taking with him, but he ignored every comment. In the lunch hall at lunchtime, again, he ignored every remark. During classes, he wouldn't participate, still keeping his eyes down at his desk. He did his work when he was asked to, but that was all. His friends, especially Lan, were getting worried. Apart from Lan, they all wondered what happened to him? Was it linked to his absence yesterday. After school, they all decided to ask him again what was wrong, but Lan had other ideas.

"Um, guys. I think it would be better if I talked with him alone," he said to everyone, ignoring everyone else's questioning as he left. Lan was meant to see Tory two days ago right after the filtering program was unfrozen, but he wasn't anywhere to be found. A day after, he checked Tory's house to see, but his mother said he didn't want to see anyone.

Meanwhile, Tory, staying away from his friends, decided to head on home. Originally, he was planning to help his father, but by this point, even the mentioning of the company's name made him shudder. He just couldn't get over what he did. He decided to sit around at the park for a while before heading home. As he was about to take a seat on the bench...

"Hey, Tory!"

It was Lan who called him. Apparently, he was following him the whole time. He took a seat next to him on the bench.

"You okay?" Lan asked him. "You've been awfully quiet today. Not that you're not a quiet person, but this time, you didn't say a word!"

"I'm... sorry about that," Tory replied quietly. "Just thinking things over."

"What things?"

Tory only sighed as a response. Then, he turned around to make sure no one else was listening. After a long pause, answered the question with, "Yesterday..."

"What?"

"Don't you remember? I froze the Waterworks programs and stopped the water from running. And it was all to help World Three."

"Oh. But you did it to save your dad, didn't you?" Lan reminded his friend. "World Three had your dad captive, didn't they?"

"Yeah, it was for father, but I put everyone else in danger because of it! I didn't think of anyone else's need for water, Lan!"

"And what were you gonna do with your father, then? Leave him with World Three!?"

"..."

"Tory, my father's always told me that if it's not the right thing to do, you wouldn't have done it. Maybe people would get mad if they found you stopped the water, yes, but you did it to save your father. I think it was the right thing to do..."

"... About what happens when people find out... Will they... Lan, will they really get mad at me? Will they... hate me?"

"Maybe... But if they knew why, they would understand. I certainly understand." Tory looked down on the grass for a moment, taking in what Lan had said, hearing his friend also say to him, "So don't worry about it."

"..."

"..."

"Thanks." Tory, for the first time that day, had a smile on his face. "Thanks, Lan."

"That's what friends are for, right?" Lan grinned back, placing his hand on Tory's shoulder

"I guess. Hey, would you mind... not telling anyone about this?

"I won't tell a soul, Tory."

"Thanks. Hey, I better get going. See ya, Lan!"

"See ya, Tory!"

Tory was headed for the Metroline to return to the Waterworks, as originally planned, while Lan decided to head back to his place.

"That was really sweet of you, Lan," Megaman said to him.

Lan took out his PET and responded, "Well, what were you expecting? Me just leaving him there?"

"I guess that wouldn't have been right. I would have done the same thing. Anyway, better get home quick. Remember those chores you promised mom you'd do?"

"Aw, man!"

* * *

**Afterwards, On The Internet...**

"That didn't take too long, did it, Lan?" Megaman said to his NetOp.

"I guess not," Lan replied. "But chores are chores and I'm not too big on them!"

"Didn't think so!" Megaman chuckled as he left the homepage and headed for the Internet.

The ACDC Area looked quite packed with children's Navis. Apparently, no homework was set, so it gave kids a chance to spend the rest of the day on the Net. Right now, though, it didn't look like there was anything to do for Megaman.

"Uh, Lan. What did you jack me in for?" he asked.

"Hm... I didn't really think of that," Lan laughed sheepishly. "I guess you're just here for the sake of being here."

"What? But viruses could attack at any minute!"

"They're weak. And you're awesome at deleting them, so what threat could they be to you?"

"Well, you got me there. I suppose I'll just take a walk around while you do whatever."

There was nothing to do. Gutsman was probably busy training, Glyde was off to who knows where and Iceman was in his PET. This only left Roll, but where was she? After a minute or two, she did pass her Security Gate, but from the way she was turning left and right every now and then, she was clearly looking for someone. She was looking for Megaman and she saw him looking around, too. She had something to give to him, so she went up to him.

"Hm? Oh, hey, Roll!" he greeted her.

"Hiya, Mega!" she replied cheerfully. A smile pulled along Megaman's face at this, for Roll's cheery nature was one thing he liked about her. The nickname that was given to him was rather adorable. "I have something for you."

"Oh? What is it?" Megaman asked, before noticing a slip of paper appear in his friend's hand.

"It's a message from Maylu to Lan," Roll said. "I'd really love to stay and hang out with you, Mega, but there seems to be a problem with Maylu's Mr Progs outside her Security Gate and I have to sort it out. I guess I'll see you in front of it when Lan answers, Mega!"

"See you then!" Megaman said, seeing Roll head back. Addressing Lan, he asked, "Well, shall I read it out?"

"Sure," Lan answered.

"Okay. It says 'Hey, Yai's birthday is coming soon! Wanna come with me to buy a present for her this Saturday? Write me back!' Well, Lan, are you busy this weekend?"

"Hm... Well, I have nothing planned," Lan said. "Why not?" He typed up his response and gave it to Megaman. "Give this to Roll, okay?"

"Already on it," the blue Navi smiled, heading off to Roll's Security Gate to give the message to his friend.

Apart from Lan cheering up Tory and agreeing to go shopping with Maylu on Saturday, Megaman didn't think too much went on today. But neither would the rest of the school week, but Megaman would be for quite an adventure on Saturday!

* * *

Yeah, why not stick something that actually happened in the game after filler I made? To be honest, that was all I had for the filler and it only ended up being seven hundred to eight hundred or so words, so I decided to stick in the invitation thing. It still may be short, but this doesn't mean it's not a filler chapter. It still is. As I said last time, filler chapters will be quite shorter than my regular chapters.

Anyway, see you guys next chapter!

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever~


	12. Trouble In Town

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

* * *

Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 11: Glad you liked it, though I think I got the message after the first time you said 'it was cute'. ;)

* * *

**And So, That Saturday...**

"Man, where's Maylu?" Lan sighed, pacing back and forth between the Metroline under the mid morning sky.

"Well, I'm surprised," Megaman commented. "It's usually you who's late. I wonder what's keeping Maylu up."

"Hm... Now that you mention it, Megaman, you're right! For once, she's the late one!" Lan grinned suddenly. "Now I can't wait to see the look on her face! Only problem is that she isn't here yet. Darn."

After a few more minutes of pacing, Lan finally caught sight of his magenta haired friend, who panted as she rushed to him.

"Hah! Who's late now?" Lan smirked.

"Sorry, sorry!" Maylu apologized in between breaths. "I had something to bring over to my grandma's..."

"Hmph. You could have told me."

"I promise I'll make it up to you! Now, let's go."

After school on Friday, Lan and Maylu agreed to meet up at the Metroline and head for DenTech Town, the central area of DenTech City, home to the Internet Area 'Central DenTech Area'. And so, this was where they were headed today. While train rides from ACDC Town to Marine Harbor took twenty minutes, train rides from ACDC Town to DenTech Town took a chunky thirty five minutes. This, however, gave the two friends plenty of time to talk about loads of different stuff, including...

"Lan, do you... like anyone?"

"Huh?"

"Um, do you like anyone?" Maylu repeated herself.

"What do you mean?" Lan asked, clearly confused at Maylu's question.

"Uh... What I mean is..." She lowered her head in slight embarrassment. "You know what, never mind..."

"Huh..."

"Don't you get it, Lan?" Megaman spoke up.

"Don't get what, Megaman?" Lan responded.

"The way Maylu asked you that question, the question itself," the blue Navi reminded his NetOp, his voice lowered to a hushed tone. "Do you seriously not get it?"

"Uh, no..."

"Sigh... Sometimes, you can be so dense, Lan..."

"But it's not my fault I don't get it!"

Whatever Maylu meant, Lan wouldn't ever understand (or, so he thought). In their own heads, the two vowed to forget about it, especially Maylu. Well, at least until she could muster up enough courage to talk about the subject properly... In any case, they arrived at DenTech Town.

DenTech Town, dubbed to the entire city's citizens as 'The Town', was normally very busy and this day was no exception. While the town was massive, the many commuters and civilians took up the huge space. The town itself was separated into five sections, each signified by the houses' roofs: North (with red roofs), East (with yellowy orange roofs), South (with lime green roofs), West (with navy roofs) and Center (with white roofs). The Metroline was located in the town's Center, which was where Lan and Maylu were greeted with tree trunk brown sidewalks and plenty of buildings, housing and facilities.

"So, what are we gonna get Yai?" Lan asked.

"Well, I heard that she's been collecting antiques recently," Maylu answered. "So why don't we get some for her?"

"Good idea. But where are we gonna find a place to buy antiques?"

"Don't worry, Lan," Maylu smiled. "I've been here before with my mom. The antique shop is over at the town's East."

"East?" Lan repeated, before Maylu explained everything about the town's structure. Lan understood some of it, but he received the info too quickly (according to him, anyway). The two traveled through the northern area to get the the east, for there was a lot for Lan to see, but they couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. They took a glance around and noticed something odd about the traffic lights.

"Hey, Maylu. Are traffic lights supposed to be green both ways?" Using the latest technology, the red lights emitted strips of energy, which prevented people from driving past. Walkers and drivers heading vertically were allowed through when those heading horizontally were stopped, and vice versa (for the sake of convenience, entrances to tunnels which led to the other side of the street were built). In this instance, the green lights were on for vertical and horizontal drivers at the same time!

"Oh no! Watch out!" Maylu shouted to the driving citizens, but it was too late. Two drivers, one driving eastward and another heading south, attempted to pull the brakes, but the heads of their cars collided in a booming explosion, striking fear on all the other town goers and Lan and Maylu.

In the midst of all that, Lan and Maylu suddenly received mail. But why now, at a time like this!? They began to take a look. It was from World Three! It contained this message:

'Greetings, citizens of DenTech Town! Is your autodrive system malfunctioning? Well, don't fear! We at World Three have created a program guaranteed to solve the problem! Just install it into your car and it will run like new! On sale at DenTech Town's Center while supplies last! It's a little pricey, but it's all worth it!'

After scrolling down through it all, the price of the 'program' appeared in bulging text, to which Lan and Maylu yelped in shock and exited the message.

"Those World Three jerks!" Lan growled. "Kicking people when they're down!"

"It must be World Three viruses bugging the traffic lights!" a voice shouted to Lan from across the street. Lan and Maylu turned to the direction they heard the voice from and noticed Sal, with her was a close friend of hers, Miyu, who was the owner of the antique shop Maylu was talking about. Said shop was where Sal and Miyu were headed.

"We must stop them before the situation gets worse," Miyu stated calmly after the introductions were gotten out of the way. "I can sense impending danger as we speak."

"Then we better get moving!" Maylu responded. "Let's jack in from where we are and our Navis will meet up and take care of everything! Ready, Lan?"

"Who do you think I am?" he smirked. "Let's do this! Jack in, Megaman! Execute!"

"Jack in, Roll! Execute!"

* * *

**In The Traffic Light Network...**

Each part of the real world's town housed their own area of the Traffic Light Network, which could be accessed by jacking into the respective traffic lights themselves. Since Lan, Maylu, Sal and Miyu all jacked in from the North, their Navis arrived at the Northern Traffic Light Network.

Megaman and Roll were on one side of the network, but on the other side were two other Navis, Woodman, a hefty, tree based Navi, and Skullman, a skeletal Navi. The cyberspace was a black background lined with road like patterns, which came in shades of red, blue and yellow. The cyber ground was red on the side Woodman and Skullman were on, but it was blue on the other side, the side with Megaman and Roll. In the center was a bright main platform, one with two Mr Progs. They controlled the actual lights from the traffic lights. However, the four Navis couldn't reach them yet, for lines of viruses, all with World Three's data signatures, made their way to them in an attempt to delete them all. They were tougher than regular viruses, but they were still no match for the Navis.

It was easy to get to the main platform, for maintenance was extremely important for travel systems. As the four Navis made it there, they saw groups of viruses, made up of Puffers, VolGears and Mettool2s (faster and stronger Mettools with magenta bodies and blue crosses on their helmets), surrounding the two Mr Progs.

"Stop, evil doers, and release them!" Woodman commanded them, only to have them turning to him and displaying angry looks on their faces.

"Hmph. Won't do it, eh?" Skullman smirked. "Then get ready to be deleted! Ready, Woodman?"

"As always, friend!"

"Roll and I will help you guys out, too!" Megaman said to Skullman.

"Ah! Good to see you two again!" Woodman remarked. There was an incident back with ACDC's squirrel statue where the three had met. Megaman and Roll were new faces to Skullman, though.

"So, you're Megaman and Roll," he mused.

"Yep. That's us!" Roll responded cheerfully. "And you must be Skullman, right?" Woodman briefly mentioned Skullman to Megaman and Roll once.

"Got that right," said skeletal Navi responded. "But enough of the greetings. We need to show these viruses their place!"

"Right behind you!" Megaman affirmed, as the four of them prepared to strike.

Roll jumped backwards and turned her right arm into a pink bow. From this, she shot her 'Roll Arrows', which seemed to do minimal damage to the viruses, but before they could laugh tauntingly, they found themselves severely stunned. Taking the chance, Skullman leaped upwards and breathed fireballs of 'Ghost Fire' raining down on the virus hordes, while Megaman fired his Mega Buster at them. Meanwhile, Woodman used his 'Green Wood' attack by slamming his fist down and summoning sharp wood spikes to trap and impale viruses. Only a few of he pests survived this combined attack. A couple of VolGears began to use their Tower attacks, but they were interrupted and stunned by Roll Arrows and finally deleted by Mega Buster shots. The Mr Progs, who witnessed the beat down the viruses deserved and got, cheered together.

"Now that we're free, we can do our jobs again!" one of them sighed in relief.

"Well, make it quick!" Skullman told them. "Change the lights red before another pair of real world cars bite the dust!"

"Will do!" With that affirmation, the Mr Progs flipped their switches, the signals on top of them turning from green to red.

"You know, you two are pretty strong," Skullman said to Megaman and Roll. "Maybe as good as me or Woodman!"

"Ha ha. You're pretty strong yourself," Megaman admitted. "What do you think, Roll?"

"I'm with you, Mega," Roll smiled.

"C'mon, Roll. Now that the traffic's back, we better warn everyone not to buy that so called program!" Maylu said.

"Of course." Before everyone agreed to jack out, Roll waved to Skullman and Woodman and said to them, "I'll see you guys soon!"

* * *

**Back In DenTech Town...**

"That time may come very early," Miyu responded to Roll's words.

"Hm? What are you talking about?" Sal asked her.

"I just have a feeling," Miyu replied stoically as the two followed Lan and Maylu's lead to DenTech Town's Center. There, they saw th woman Lan saw last week. With the amount of people around her willing to 'buy' the 'program' for their cars, she was pleased to see that everything was going according to her plan. However, as soon as she saw Lan, her grin pulled down to a frown.

"You again..." she growled.

"You were from the Waterworks, weren't you? And you were a World Three operator the entire time!?"

"That's right, you meddling kid!"

"You're the one meddling!" Lan retorted.

Meanwhile, Maylu, Sal and Miyu convinced the people of the crowd that this was all a World Three scam. They, too, knew of the trouble World Three caused and didn't want anything from a 'company' such as them. One by one, the people of the crowd left.

"Aaaaahhh! My customers!"

"Your so called 'customers' now know why you're running this 'business'!" Maylu smirked.

"Grrrr! You don't know how much... Aaaarrrgh! This time, I'll break all the traffic signs for good! And I'll get you good, kid!" She addressed Lan as she said her last sentence.

"Lan?"

"What are you talking about!?" Lan growled.

"I've been reading your personal files," the woman began. "And I know that you hate nothing more than losing your loved ones! You're gonna be real depressed when I'm done with you! Then, you'll remember to never mess with Maddy!" Cackling, she took off.

"No!" Sal spoke up. "We can't let her get away with this!"

"..." Miyu said nothing. Instead, she breathed more heavily.

"Hm? What's up, Miyu?" Sal asked her.

"Lan, Maylu, the woman that just took foreshadowed a terrible event!" Miyu warned the two.

"What!?"

Suddenly, their PETs began to ring. They took them out to see that they had calls, calls from Dex and Tory! They needed help because they were stuck in a bus that was being controlled past green lights! They panicked, but they were told to calm down and tell Lan and Maylu where they were.

"Um, it looks like we're headed for the Western Area," Tory said to Lan, noticing the dark blue roofs on the houses.

"Alright! Just hang on! We'll do something to stop the bus!" Lan told him.

"Hang on!? You need to get us out of here fast!" Dex's shout rang through Maylu's PET.

"You heard Lan! We'll be right there!" Maylu assured him.

As fast as they could, Lan, Maylu, Sal and Miyu dashed for the area Tory mentioned, the west of DenTech Town. After finding a traffic light to jack into, they immediately jacked their Navis into the Western Traffic Light Network.

It was the same routine as last time: find the main platform with the Mr Progs and delete the viruses holding them.

* * *

**Virus Log**

Mettool2s: faster and stronger Mettools with magenta bodies and blue crosses on their helmets

* * *

Could this be the end of Dex, Tory and all the other citizens at the uncontrollable bus? Will Lan and the others stop it in time? Find out in the next chapter of 'Virus Busters'!

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever, and stay upbeat, y'all!~


	13. No Joking Matter!

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

* * *

As best as they could, Lan, Maylu, Sal and Miyu operated their Navis against the viruses that lurked in the Western Traffic Light Network. World Three's viruses were definitely no pushovers, but combined attacks were the key that the four Navis used to victory. The Mr Progs at the main platform were free and flipped both the switches. What Lan hadn't noticed during the process of getting Megaman there, however, was that the bus had just passed them!

"Darn it! We're too late!" Lan growled before getting a phone call. He picked it up to find 'that' woman again!

"Sorry, charley!" she taunted him.

"Grr!"

"Hah! You better listen up, kiddo! I forgot to mention that I placed a virus in the bus' gas program. In time, it'll make the gas go backwards, them... BOOM!"

"What!?"

"Unfortunately, it'll take quite a bit of time because it keeps moving about... But they'll enjoy that, I'm sure! And the end show's definitely worth the wait! And there's nothing you can do! Ha ha ha ha ha!"

In rage, Lan hung up on her, only to get another phone call.

_What could she want this time!?_

Only this time, it wasn't from that creep. It was from Dex!

"Lan! We're headed East now!" he freaked out. "Help us!"

"We'll stop it this time!" Lan vowed. Addressing the other three around him, he said, "Let's go!" They nodded as a response.

The four immediately rushed for the town's East, taking the tunnels that they came across. Maylu, Miyu and Sal feared for Dex, Tory and all the other bus passengers' safety, but Lan was determined to save them. After finding a jack in port in one of the traffic lights, the four jacked in their Navis. Once again, Megaman and the others had to find the main platform with the Mr Progs and delete all the viruses around them. In the Eastern Traffic Light Network, the Navi team encountered Swordys (ghost knight like viruses which swung their swords) and Fire Swordys (Swordys with Fire Swords). At first, there was difficulty, but it was nothing that cooperative operating couldn't handle! The Mr Progs were free and the switches were flipped. As the bus drove by, the stream of energy seemed to barely miss it!

"Not again!" Lan sighed.

"But look!" Maylu pointed out, seeing sparks crackle slightly from the bus.

"Yes. It seems to be slowing down," Miyu stated.

"It gives us more time," Sal elaborated. "Let's not waste it!"

Lan got another phone call from Tory, who told him that the bus just turned and headed for South and repeated the process again. When they were finished, the stream of energy shot out, as the bus was in line with it, slowing it down even more. Despite this, it appeared to turn north, heading for the Center.

"We can stop it there!" Lan told everyone. "Let's finish this!"

The bus was slow enough for Lan and the others to outpace it by walking! This gave plenty of time to delete the viruses at the Central Traffic Light Network, which was by far the most difficult of them all, if not only for the sheer numbers. There were some combinations of Puffys and Buffys (the fire variants), but it was still nothing Megaman and the others couldn't handle! With the last switches flipped and the stream of energy shot out, the bus slowed down to a halt. Everything seemed to be all over! But...

*BRIIIING* *BRIIIING*

"Ha ha ha! You may have stopped the bus, but not the gas program!"

"Nooo!" Lan cried in anger. "It can't be!"

"Sorry, pal! Now everyone will go bye bye!"

"No..."

"Three!"

"Dex..."

"Two!"

"Tory..."

"One!"

"I'm sorry..."

Lan looked down at the ground in shame. He had failed. All he could do was await the coming explosion. Sal and Miyu shook in fear and shielded their eyes from what was to come.

But it never came.

Lan, Sal and Miyu looked up and faced the bus. It was completely intact. Wait a minute. What was Maylu doing in front of it?

* * *

**In The Bus...**

"Colorman! What's going on!?"

"Aah! Sorry, Maddy! There's this cute little Navi in here and... Aaaahhh!"

"Colorman!"

"Aha! I've got you now!"

The 'cute Navi' screamed in pain and she keeled over to the cyber ground. All she could see was Colorman's ugly grin on his face.

"G-Get away from m-me..." Roll mustered enough guts to say.

"Ho ho ho! I shall delete you soon enough, my pretty," Colorman grinned widely. He saw two other Navis charge straight for him, but the red and blue dummies surrounding Colorman were commanded to tackle them back down and did as ordered.

"Guts... This guy's tough..." Gutsman confessed.

"How can we beat this guy?" Iceman responded.

Three flashes of blue light appeared before their eyes. The blue lights morphed into shape. Three Navis. Skullman, Woodman and Megaman! Megaman turned to the down Gutsman and Iceman.

"Are you two okay?" he asked them.

"Who... Who are those guys?" Iceman replied with his own question, before being introduced to Skullman and Iceman.

"Oh ho! So, the clowns have arrived!" Colorman noticed.

"You're calling us clowns?" Skullman retorted. "You look more clown like than all of us!"

"You think you can just attack my friends like that!?" Megaman snapped back, before hearing Roll's voice call his name, well, his nickname. He turned to her and gasped. "Roll! What have you done with her!?"

"Wouldn't you like to know! Ho ho ho ho!" Colorman chuckled, bouncing up and down on his polka dotted ball.

"Enough, wacko!" Maddy shouted. "Delete these pests!"

"Yes, ma'am!" the crazy Navi responded cheerfully, doing a mock salute. He leaped upwards, positioning himself above Megaman, and released his ball down at him. Megaman just managed to dodge it, but was too slow at countering with his Mega Buster, for Colorman retrieved his ball and sprang back up.

Skullman crossed his arms, then thrust them out and literally threw them at Colorman like boomerangs. The dummies came forth and protected their master from damage, absorbing the Boomerang Bones' damage easily. The bones reattached themselves to Skullman and he rushed forward and smashed his fist upward at him. As Colorman was crashing down, Woodman stepped above him and thrust his own fist upward at him, propelling the enemy up even higher. Skullman took aim and breath Ghost Fire at Colorman, but he couldn't help but hear him laugh rather childishly.

"Ho ho ho ho! Going up and down like that was kinda fun!" Colorman said after the laugh. "But now it's my turn!" He thrust his ball out behind Woodman and it bounced up and down. The blue dummy took one side of him and the red dummy took the other. "Fire Tower, go!"

The red dummy flashed as a pillar of flame came rushing at Woodman, who was simply too big and slow to move out of the way. The ball and other dummy moved inwards, preventing the tree based Navi from getting away. Skullman and Megaman jumped right in to get the obstacles out of the way, but at once, the three of them were hit by the Fire Tower and were sent flying away.

"Hm... That looks like a good strategy!" Colorman just realized as his ball came back to him. "I might just do that more often! Ho ho ho ho ho!"

The three victims to the attack struggled to get up, especially Woodman, for fire burns wood. Luckily, he wasn't set ablaze, just heavy damage. Megaman jumped back into action and fired at Colorman, who just laughed as his dummies took the damage for him (and they showed no signs of wearing out, either!). Lan sent him an Electro Sword and the Navi rushed at the blue dummy and sliced at it. As the two halves disintegrated into data, Colorman backed away. There was no way he could summon more of them.

"But I still have my red dummy!"

"Not anymore, dummy!" Megaman smirked as he sliced the red one in half and deleted it.

"What do you think you're supposed to be, some kind of samurai!?" Colorman shouted, before shooting his white ball at Megaman. "Have a slice of this, then!"

Megaman leaped up as the ball bounced down and he threw his blade down but it recoiled back to him. The blue Navi couldn't control his trajectory to the cyber ground away from the ball and got caught above it. As the ball bounced down again, Megaman found himself falling. He somersaulted and slammed his Electro Sword at Colorman, but it was dodged and before he knew it, the blade disappeared and his arm came back.

"Having fun?" Colorman teased Megaman as his ball came back to him. "Time to bounce again!" He crouched downwards to leap, but he got hit in the back by something rather sharp. And cold, too! "Who did that!?" Colorman frantically turned around and saw Iceman standing straight up.

"Chill out, psycho," the winter Navi joked.

"I make all the jokes here!" Colorman yelled, leaping at him, only to get propelled even higher by a big, yellow fist. "Heeeeey!" he screamed at Gutsman, only to take a straight punch to the face, then yelp in pain, due to Woodman's Green Wood attack, and finally get burned in the face by more of Skullman's Ghost Fire, all while listening to their own little remarks. It was his turn to struggle to get up, but he had to struggle even more, for he took even more pain.

"Doesn't sound like you're too popular of a guy!" Megaman inputted his own joke, gaining a chuckle from Roll.

"Just give up!" Lan told Maddy.

"Grr! Fine! You win this round, kid!" she said, signaling her surrender. "But I'll be back! Just you wait and see! Jack out, Colorman! Keep being passed round like a ball and you will pass out!"

"Aaww!" Colorman whined, doing what he was told to.

"COLORMAN, LOGGING OUT."

* * *

**Back In DenTech Town...**

Lan, Maylu, Sal and Miyu checked with everyone on the bus to see if they were alright. Meanwhile, Dex and Tory looked back on what had just happened and were glad to be alive.

"You know, I heard that the place was gonna blow up!" Dex told Tory.

"What? You sure?"

"Yeah! You know, if it weren't for Lan, we would all be..." Dex didn't want to finish his sentence.

"I know..." At that moment, Tory saw a little girl heading their way. "Hey, guys! Yai's here!"

"Hm?"

"Whew! I'm glad I finally got here!" Yai sighed in relief after rushing for the now broken down bus. Turning to her friends, she asked them, "What happened here anyway? I was worried sick about you guys after I heard about a runaway bus on the news!" She was given every little detail, except the part about shopping for her gift. Well, shopping in general was mentioned, but because of that, she wondered out loud, "What were you shopping for?"

Maylu leaned over to Lan's ear and whispered to him, "Hey, why don't we get Yai's antiques tomorrow?"

"Fine by me," Lan whispered back.

"And what have we here?" Yai suddenly smirked. "Two lovebirds whispering secret messages of love?"

"Yai!" Maylu whined, blushing in utter embarrassment. "I-I don't love him!"

"A-And I don't love her!" Lan backed himself up, also blushing.

"Oh please! You're horrible liars, guys!" Yai responded, gaining laughs from everyone else. All was well with DenTech City once again.

* * *

**Later, Somewhere Else...**

"Please forgive me, sir!" Maddy begged her master.

"Fool! You have failed me again!" Wily roared with rage, slamming his fist down at the table. "Do you think I would think for a moment to give you another chance!?"

"But-"

"Silence! No more excuses! Now get out of my sight!"

In shame, Maddy put her head down and slowly walked away, as Wily ordered her to. She gained a look from Count Zap and Yahoot, but not Mr Match, who wasn't present at all. He had a private meeting with Wily and after that, he was never seen again.

"That's it..." Wily mumbled to himself. "No more... Count Zap!"

"Yes, sir!" Zap responded with a slight accent.

"These two bit schemes have failed me! It's high time that we take down DenTech City once and for all! I'm entrusting you to do this, Count Zap! Is that understood!?"

"I hear and obey only you, Lord Wily!" Zap vowed, saluting him.

* * *

**Virus Log**

Swordys: ghost knight like viruses that swing their swords at their opponents

Fire Swordys: the same as Swordys, except with gold armor and Fire Swords

Buffys: the same as Puffys, except red bodies and fire type bubbles

* * *

At first, I wasn't too fond with this chapter, but I think it came out a lot better than I originally thought it would, with all the horrible jokes I've written in and all.

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever, and stay upbeat, y'all!~


	14. Don't Forget To Do Your Homework!

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

* * *

Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 13: Hard to keep up, eh? Well, the good news is that updates will slow down from here on out, so you can actually keep up! The bad news is why updates will slow down - school. High school will finally begin for me tomorrow (as of September 5th, meaning I start on September 6th). This is the last thing I want to squeeze out before I begin. I'll try to balance things out, but it's still gonna be a pain.

Speaking of school, check out today's filler. You'll see what I mean.

* * *

**The Next Friday...**

It was after school and everyone except Lan had plans for the weekend, so they split up and headed for home.

"Man, I'm starving!" Lan told Megaman. "I wonder what there is to eat."

"Huh? Didn't you eat just eat lunch at school?"

"Well, I can't recharge once a day like you can, Megaman!"

"Okay, okay... But we better get home! The new episode of 'Midget Monsters' is starting!"

"Oh, I can't miss that!" It was at that moment that the PET bleeped. "Huh? What is it?"

"You've got mail, Lan," Megaman said. "It's from... your dad!"

"Really?" Lan asked excitedly.

"Yeah! It says 'Hey, Lan! How have you been? I'll be seeing you tonight!'"

"Wow! Really!?"

"'That is, you'll be coming to see me.'" Megaman continued to read.

"Huh?"

"'There's a party over at SciLab in Marine Harbor. I'm inviting you and your mom to join me for dinner! Let's meet at seven in front of the TV in SciLab's waiting lobby. Say hi to mom for me and let her know about tonight! -Dad'"

"Alright! We're gonna see dad!" Lan cheered. "And I'm gonna eat 'til I drop tonight!"

"And you were saying you were on a diet..." Megaman mumbled quietly. "Well, okay. Let's go home and tell mom about the party."

Now there were two things Lan was excited for: the new episode of Midget Monsters and SciLab's party. As fast as he could, he rushed home and switched on the TV. Lan's mom noticed his excitement from the kitchen and went in to see what the fuss was about.

"Oh? Is the new episode of your little show airing now?" she asked.

"Yeah," Lan answered. "By the way, mom, dad's invited us for a party!"

"Oh, how wonderful!" Haruka Hikari smiled, delighted because of the invitation. "How sweet of your father to think of us, his family, at such a busy time! So, when and where do we meet, Lan?"

"At seven, at SciLab's waiting lobby."

"Okay! It's half past three now, so we have plenty of time! Well, you do, at least."

"What are you talking about, mom? What about you?"

"It takes plenty of time for a woman to look her best, Lan," Haruka reminded her son. "You'll understand why someday." With that, she went to her room to do just that.

"Maybe that day will come sooner than expected, Lan," Megaman grinned.

"W-What!?" Lan responded, blushing, for he knew who he was talking about.

"Sigh... I guess I'll tell you another time... Ooh, the intro's done!"

After a half hour of action and antics from the Midget Monsters, Lan stayed seated on the sofa and watched another show, shifting his position every now and then. Megaman grew bored, so he took a nap in the PET. Eventually, it was half past four and Lan also got bored.

"Man, what else is there to do?" Lan spoke up, waking the napping Megaman.

"Huh? Well, how about doing that homework you got today?" the blue Navi suggested.

"Oh, that math homework is easy!" Lan grinned. "I'll do it on Sunday."

"Really? Well, what's 2/3 + 3/5, then?" Megaman smirked.

"What? You can't add fractions!"

"Yes, you can. You did this in math class today!"

"Huh? I guess I wasn't listening..."

"Sigh... Just do some of your homework now and do more over the weekend, so you won't burn yourself out on the last day," Megaman said.

"Fine, fine, fine. But if I'm late for that party, it's on your digital head!" Lan groaned as he made his way to his room. As he stepped in, he threw his backpack over to his bed, then reached inside to grab his equipment and worksheets. He groaned at the two pieces of paper he had to fill in with his answers. There were problems on both sides of each sheet!

"You'll thank Ms Mari later," Megaman told Lan. "Now could you jack me into the computer?"

"What!? You get to have fun?" Lan whined. "You're supposed to be helping me!"

"Well, I can't just stand around in the PET and do nothing," the Navi responded.

"Fine. I'll call you back when I need you," his NetOp sighed, switching on his computer and plugging in the PET.

_Man... It must be great being a Navi... No homework, no school, no problems! Oh, if Megaman was human, I would smack him silly if he doesn't help me!_

But believe it or not, Lan actually made some progress on his own, completing half of the first side of the first sheet without help from Megaman! There was a little confusion on that last question, but Lan realized that it was just like the other questions. Although it was a slow process, Lan managed to get through.

However, as he looked further down the sheet, he realized that he should have paid enough attention in math class. These later questions were the ones to really test Lan, who began to stress out at that point as he scratched his head in confusion.

"Hm... I don't wanna abuse Megaman's help," he reminded himself. "I guess I'll turn the sheet over." The classic 'go back to it at the end' thing Ms Mari told the class about should have worked, right?

Lan was even more stumped on those questions.

"Sigh..."

Drumming the table with the flat end of his pen, Lan tried to remember what he learned in class, but nothing important came to him, just the fact that Dex had his first bad hair day. His mohawk was ruined. Yeah, it was pretty embarrassing for Dex. He tried to cover it up with a cap, but it failed. But that wasn't the situation in Lan's hands right now.

Deciding to leave the rest of the first sheet aside, he brought the second sheet in front of him. Looking at the questions only made his mouth open wider and wider. The second side couldn't have possibly been so much worse, right?

They were.

In frustration, he tossed his pen at the wall, but luckily, it didn't break. After retrieving it, he got back to thinking. But Lan figuring out those questions looked like a caveman trying to use advanced technology. It just wouldn't happen! Lan's computer was on mute, so Megaman's noises wouldn't distract him, but just looking at the screen was enough to make the boy cringe.

_No homework, no school, no problems! Look at that guy, standing there, talking with Roll! I could be out there talking with my friends if they weren't so busy and I didn't get talked into doing this! Darn it!_

Lan didn't want to do this (well, he did), but he had no choice (again, he did). He turned up the volume, cringing at all the noise from the Internet and...

"Hey, Megaman! I'm stumped!"

Megaman apologized to Roll, for he had to help Lan, but Roll shook it off with no regrets and looked forward to seeing him again. After saying goodbye, Megaman headed back past his Security Gate and into the homepage, to not annoy Lan any further with the noise.

"What is it, Lan?" Megaman asked him. "What do you need help with?"

Lan brought back the first sheet and showed him where he left off.

Megaman brought the palm of his hand to his face.

* * *

Yeah, I just made this out of place filler yesterday. Now, why would I make a filler chapter about doing homework (apart from reminding you all of the black hole you have been sucked into or will be sucked into)? I'm just mad. Not 'angry' mad. 'Foolish' mad.

But even with this, I still know that it's very important and takes top priority in children and teenagers' lives. Let's not forget that we need education for our futures and our lives won't be this torturous forever. Besides, it won't be all bad, right?

Also, it can help with writing quality fanfiction, too!

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever, and stay upbeat, y'all!~


	15. A Shocking Event

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

* * *

Before I begin, I'd like to thank ssj3gohan007 for adding this story to their story alerts and favorites.

Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 14: Gosh, you sound pretty depressed. Gotta blame school... I hope you feel better now.

Yeah, high school can definitely take its toll on us, as I have experienced over Thursday and Friday (poor choice of first day placement on their part, by the way, but that's not the point). It's now the weekend, which means I have time to update.

I'm pretty sure that last filler didn't help much with your mood, either. I mean, it was about homework! And you're assigned homework in school! But now, it's time for the main events.

Reply to MysteriousClue's review of Chapter 14: Hm? I'm sorry, but I don't think I foreshadowed anything. Could you point out where you saw it?

This upcoming plot arc of the game was what made me resort to using an online guide. In my second playthrough, I tried to go without it. It was horrible!

* * *

They were quite simple questions, in hindsight. How did Lan get stumped anyway? Regardless, Megaman helped his NetOp out, but Lan grew tired of it. Of course, afterwards, Megaman let him put off the homework for the weekend, for they needed to get ready for the party. But really, Lan wasn't planning on wearing anything fancy. He only needed to freshen up with a shower. It was six o'clock by the time he was done and he decided tom kill some time by watching another half hour show. Afterwards, it was time.

"Mom! Are you done yet?" Lan asked her.

"Not yet, Lan!" she replied from her room.

"Well, since you always take so long, I'll go on ahead!"

"Okay, but be careful, sweetie!"

"I know, mom!" As Lan left the house and headed for the Metroline, he sighed to himself, "Man, if I wait for mom, I'll never get to eat..."

"C'mon, Lan," Megaman spoke up. "I know you just can't wait to see your dad!"

"N-no!" Lan stuttered. "Don't say that!"

After a safe train ride to Marine Harbor and a little walk to SciLab, all Lan had to do was wait for his dad at the designated location, the TV in the waiting lobby. With nothing else to do, Lan decided to take a seat in front of the TV and watch the rather boring program that flashed on, little did he know that a certain someone in the corner of the lobby.

"You again... What are you doing in SciLab?"

Lan turned around to find Chaud standing in front of him, with his hands in his pockets and an irritated look on his face.

"What's it to ya?" Lan scowled.

"This is no place for little boys to play games, so get lost, would you?"

"You can't push me around, Chaud!" Lan snapped back, slamming his fist on the couch, gaining attention from the passersby.

"Noisy little brat..." Chaud muttered under his breath.

"I heard that!" Lan retorted.

"Whatever," Chaud replied nonchalantly. "I don't have time to deal with you, anyway." With his hands still in his pockets, he turned away from the brat and walked away.

"I really hate that guy," Lan growled behind Chaud's back.

"Now's not the time for that, Lan," Megaman told him. "You don't wanna look stressed out a party, after all, do you?"

"Sigh... I guess not..."

Lan's father sure was running late. Lan couldn't take watching that show and paced back and forth, wondering where he could be. He knew the old saying 'good things come to those who wait', but his patience was running dry. Eventually, though, Yuichiro Hikari made it. Lan rushed to him the moment he saw him.

"Lan, did you wait long?" he smiled to his son. "You're looking fit as a fiddle!"

"Ha ha... Hey, dad."

"But where's mom? Isn't she coming with you?"

"She's coming, dad," Lan said. "She's just taking way too long to get ready! Can you believe that she started at half past three!?"

"Oh my... But you know what they say, Lan: it takes time for a girl to look her best!"

"Not that again..." Lan groaned.

"Ha ha. You'll understand why someday," Yuichiro chuckled.

"Ugh, mom said that, too."

Surprise, surprise, in about ten minutes' time, Lan's mother finally made it. Instead of the clothes she was wearing earlier, she wore a violet one piece dress and maroon high heels. Her hair flowed down elegantly and was combed perfectly. She also wore matching earrings.

"Sorry for the wait, boys!" Haruka smiled. "But here I am! Oh, honey! How have you been? Are you keeping well?"

"I'm doing fine, dear," Yuichiro smiled also. "Well, now that we're all here, let's go downstairs!"

"Downstairs?" Lan repeated.

"You mean I haven't told you yet? Oh, I'm sorry! You see, they built a restaurant underground below SciLab. When you look out the windows, you'll see water!"

"Cool," Lan mused. "I wonder if there's fish swimming under there."

"Maybe you'll be eating them at the party!" Megaman chuckled slightly, gaining laughs from the Hikari family.

"Anyway, to continue, underneath the restaurant is a power plant," Lan's father continued to explain, as the family stepped in the elevator and went down. "It supplies energy to all of DenTech City!"

"Why did people think that building a power plant there was a good idea?" Lan asked.

"I'm not so sure of that myself, unfortunately," his father admitted, taking a pause afterwards. By then, the elevator had stopped and the family made it to the hallway which led to the actual restaurant.

The hallway had a vending machine and a dust chute. Down the hallway were potted plants, all in front of windows, from which underwater life could be seen. Luckily, all the fish were tame and there were no sharks or piranhas about! There was a set of green double doors which led to the actual restaurant, with two smartly dressed waiters standing by, to prevent anyone without permission from entering. He knew who Yuichiro Hikari was and recognized him and the rest of the family, so they were let through.

The restaurant had a quite a number of round tables evenly spread out across the checkered floor, each with a clean white table cloth over it. There were trolley carts, some used for collecting finished tableware and others used for delivering ordered food and drinks. On the left was a set of doors, which restaurant staff used to enter the kitchen. At the front of the room was a display of PETs, which were said to be made from recycled plastic bottles. This was evident from the plastic bottles to the side of them. Behind the displays was a stage, with a curtain covering it.

There were SciLab scientists and related guests scattered across the room, satisfied with the high quality food and drinks served. They were all here for a special announcement. After the Hikari family took their seats and got the food they ordered, they began to eat away.

"It's been a while since we've talked, Lan," Yuichiro stated after swallowing a bite. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you for a while, too."

"And what's that?" Lan asked with his mouth stuffed, before getting scolded by his mother to not talk with a full mouth.

"It's... about my research," his father continued, ignoring the little comment from Haruka. "You see, I made your PET."

"Hm?"

"That's why it's different from the others. That's also why Megaman is different from other Navis, too. Lan-"

Suddenly, a bell interrupted what he was about to say, with a voice calling, "Dr Hikari, please report to the lab immediately."

"I'm sorry, but it looks like my job's calling me again," Yuichiro sighed sadly.

"It's too bad. I really wanted to spend time together as a family again," Haruka frowned.

"So did I, honey," Yuichiro said, giving his wife a kiss on the cheek. Turning to Lan, he said to him, "We'll finish off where we left off next time." Getting up from his seat, he took off for the lab.

"Bummer..." Megaman commented.

"So much for dinner together..." Lan sighed, slouching on his seat.

"Your father's job is very important, Lan," his mother reminded him, though she wished to spend more time with Yuichiro, too.

A few minutes of eating later, the announcement began.

"Everyone, thank you for waiting," a voice, eerily like the one from the month old reeducation program, spoke from a PA system. "We would like to welcome our speaker for this evening."

As the guests of the party clapped in applause, the curtain behind the recycled PETs display rose, revealing a blond man in a rusty yellow suit and brown boots. The outlines frequently flashed a bright yellow. He held two light bulbs, which were somehow still bright. Apparently, they were connected to something inside the suit.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he began. "Thank you for coming here this evening... to the... World Three Doom Party!" Everyone gasped in horror at this. "World Three has taken over the underground power plant! So, let's get thing started with a little, no, a ginormous, blackout!" With the raise of a light bulb, he commanded, "Elecman! Zap to it!"

Before anyone could scream, everything suddenly went black! All that could be seen were the light bulbs and the outlines to the man's suit and shoes. But they could see him walking away.

"A power outage!?" A cough sounded from the guest. "N-No! The air v-vents have stopped, t-too!"

"No! The generator won't w-work!" a scientist yelled. "S-Someone, check the p-power plant below!"

"Lan, it looks like it's up to us," Megaman told his NetOp under all the screams of fear and desperation for help.

"Easy for you to say!" Lan groaned. "I can't see-" The world and everything around Lan became a little clearer suddenly. "Hang on, my eyes have adjusted. I can see a bit better, Megaman. Let's go!"

All that his mother could hear were footsteps. When she turned around, Lan was gone. All the 'party' guests noticed the figure of a boy running. What could he possibly do!?

"With no power, the elevators won't work," Megaman said in the hallway.

"Then how the heck are we supposed to get to the elevator!?" Lan yelled.

"Hang on, Lan... Wait a minute. Didn't you see a dust chute earlier?"

"Huh? Oh, maybe that'll take us down to the power plant!" Lan guessed, opening the dust chute for him to crawl in.

"But Lan! It could take us somewhere else!"

"It's the only option we have!"

Crawling in the dust chute was quite uncomfortable for Lan. He could smell the mustiness of the little tunnels and was beginning to develop claustrophobia. However, he could feel himself lower down and down, until he bumped into a another wall. It felt like the same material blocking the dust chute upstairs. Feeling across it, he found an handle of sorts. He used it and opened, revealing another hallway. Lan followed along it until he came across another hallway, this time, with two mechanical doors. By instinct, he barged through the one closer to him, but to no avail. He found that the other door was unlocked and as he went on through, he found a set of monitors and computers, all of which were for the generator. A lone scientist stood in front of one of the monitors, rapidly typing on the keyboard in frustration.

"Um, mister, what are you doing here?" Lan asked him.

"Huh? Oh, I, uh, didn't see you there," the scientist answered, turning to the boy. "We control the power plant from this room, but all the computers and monitors are down! I'm trying to find a way to fix this!"

Lan, noticing jack in ports on all the monitors, stated, "I'll help you out! I'm gonna jack into the monitor now! Ready, Megaman?"

"Let's do this!" Megaman grinned.

"Alright, then. Jack in, Megaman! Exe-"

"Waaait!" the scientist yelled, blocking the jack in port with his hand. "You wanna delete your Navi!? Jacking in now is suicide! If the power's out in the real world, it's out on the Net, too!"

"But what'll happen if I jack in?"

"Your PET's battery will be drained! If the battery's completely out, all the energy sent to your Navi is cut off completely! They won't be able to download battle chips and it'll be only a matter of time before they get deleted!"

"Ugh... What should I do...?" Lan wondered out loud.

"Lan, let's go in there!" Megaman said.

"Didn't you hear what the guy said, Megaman!? You could get deleted out there!"

"But Lan, you heard the guys back in the room! The air vents have stopped working! If we don't do anything, everyone in there will..." The consequences were too harsh for Megaman to finish his sentence.

"..."

"And besides, I think you're a good enough operator to do it!"

"... I... You're right, Megaman! Lives are at stake! And I won't let those guys delete you! Let's do it! Jack in, Megaman! Execute!"

* * *

So, yeah. How about that plot? Anyway, next time will be the Power Plant Network! See you guys then!

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever, and stay upbeat, y'all!~


	16. Bring The Power To The Power Plant!

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

* * *

Before I begin, I'd like to thank MysteriousClue for adding this story to their story alerts.

Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 15: Glad to know you're feeling better! For assurance, the next chapter is here now!

Reply to MysteriousClue's review of Chapter 15: I appreciate the comments. When it comes to conversations between the Hikari family in the games, Megaman usually remains silent. Come the novelizations of the next games, I'll be sure to make up more of Megaman's comments and remarks.

* * *

**In The Power Plant Network...**

Sparks flew around the cyber grounds and from the clouds in the dark cyberspace. Megaman's arriving platform was neon orange with sparks crackling around it, too.

"Lan, make sure to keep an eye on the PET's battery gauge," he told Lan, taking a look at the eerie atmosphere. "If it runs out, then I won't be able to download your battle chips."

"Then it won't be long before you're..."

"I know... But we have to get going! We have to get the World Three Navi before the battery dies!"

Megaman immediately headed forward, but stopped almost instantly to find no path across! There were, however, several Mr Progs that seemed to know their way around. One of them saw the blue Navi's confusion and told him that the invisible pathways must have been caused by the World Three Navi in the network. The Mr Progs knew their way around because they were so used to patrolling their designated areas, they could do their job in any brightness (even complete darkness!). He also gave the blue Navi a warning...

"Be careful when talking to us. Some of us have been altered by World Three!"

"Is there anything we can do to snap them out of it?" Megaman asked him.

"I don't know... But it doesn't look like there's a way..."

"..."

With the new information stored in his head, Megaman took extra measures and made sure to stretch his foot across each side of each platform to see where the invisible paths were. After doing this a few times, he found himself on another platform. There was a powerless light bulb just off it and in front of it was a battery box and a switch. Megaman couldn't think of what to do next because suddenly, a Mr Prog suddenly leaped out of nowhere and tackled the blue Navi!

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!?" Lan shouted.

"Ugh... Lan, that must be one of those altered Mr Progs that guy mentioned," Megaman said as he pushed himself up. He was correct, as this Mr Prog had a darker toned body. "We might not have any choice but to fight!"

"But we can't just delete the guy!" Lan shot back.

"I know," Megaman said. "I'll just do enough damage to disable the guy! When this is all over, the SciLab scientists should be able to fix up the altered Mr Progs!"

"I'm... not... altered!" the Mr Prog claimed, before sparks flew and cracked around him, illuminating his body every second or so. Megaman slowly stepped back. He didn't want to fight the guy, but what if he didn't do anything? Guiltily, Megaman raised his Mega Buster, charged a shot and released it at his opponent. It did enough damage to send the Mr Prog flying away. He landed on the cyber ground and the sparks disappeared. The Mr Prog didn't move at all. Megaman slowly walked up to him, got on his knees and placed a hand on him.

"Hey... You okay...?" he slowly asked him.

"..."

"No... He's..."

With a pain filled groan, the Mr Prog forced himself to look upwards at Megaman, managing to say, "I'm... fine..." To this, Megaman gasped in relief. "What happened, anyway...?"

"Huh? You mean you don't remember anything?" Megaman asked him.

"Well, I guess I don't. The last thing I saw was this mean looking Navi and then, it was all a blur." After the Mr Prog got the rest of the details from Megaman, he thanked him and offered to help him. He told the Navi about the things on the platform. To power the bulb and reveal a path, a battery needed to be placed in the correct box, followed by pulling the switch. He gave Megaman a battery and told him to place it in the box to the right of the switch. Like the other Mr Progs, he knew his way around the Power Plant Network, so he knew where to put the battery.

It was convenient for Megaman, who did as instructed. The bulb glowed a bright baby blue, revealing a path of the same color. After thanking the Mr Prog and assuring him that he would fix the problem, he got going and made his way through the network. As he did so, he encountered a new type of virus: Billys (balls with feet, probes for arms, used for sending slow moving balls of electricity, and lightning bolt like shapes coming out their heads). Their attacks were easy to dodge, so they weren't a problem at all. Lines of Canodumb2s (stronger, blue Canodumbs) also stood in Megaman's way, but, like their weaker cousins, they stood no chance. Eventually, after another round of stepping around and walking along, Megaman found another set of contraptions, similar to the one he last saw. While it had a switch, there were twice the amount of battery boxes and two light bulbs.

"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!"

It was another altered Mr Prog! Megaman didn't want to do it (and neither did Lan), but he had to shoot him down. Luckily, the Mr Prog didn't get deleted. The damage snapped him out of World Three's control. After thanking Megaman for freeing him, he gave the Navi two batteries and told him where to place them. Megaman did as told, once more, and pulled the switch, creating another path. However, this one was different. Just as one light bulb was blue and the other was red, the first half of the new path was blue and the second half was red.

Just nearby were more battery boxes, three bulbs and another switch. Megaman knew the routine. By instinct, he turned around, expecting an altered Mr Prog to pop in. Following the same routine, he freed the Mr Prog, he was given batteries and was told where to place them. He did as told and moved on.

Gradually, the process of stepping around for invisible paths dried out Lan's patience and was wearing down on Megaman's, too. But neither of them had the idea of giving up. Lives were at stake! They had to press on. Pressure of the PET's battery running out pushed down on them, but eventually, after what seemed like forever, after flipping all the switches and creating paths, the last switch was pulled. Megaman could hear the scientist next to Lan cheer, for the power room door, the other door of the hallway, was open. Lan told Megaman that he would check it out and turn on the generator inside. He waited while he did so, deleting any of the pesky viruses that tried to ambush him. After a while, he heard his NetOp's voice again.

"Hey, Megaman, the generator was running!" Lan told him. "And the room was bright!"

"What? How?"

"I don't know, but something tells me that something's up!" Lan said. "Check out the area now!"

"Roger!"

Megaman searched around and found three cone shaped structures, which he thought were linked to the generator.

"Strange..." he said to Lan. "Wait a minute. Who's that!?"

In front of the center cone was a Navi! This one wore a black and yellow jumpsuit and had silver lightning rods from his back. His gloves were the same color.

"Huh? Who are you? A Net Battler?" the Navi demanded from Megaman.

"What are you doing here!?" Megaman shot back.

"Sigh... I guess I'll tell you, since you've come this far. It won't matter, anyway, because of what I'll do to you! I've just finished downloading the Elec Program!"

"The Elec Program!?"

"What's the problem, Elecman!?" a voice called for the mysterious Navi.

"Sorry, Zap! But there are intruders!" the Navi, known as Elecman, responded.

"Intruders? Why now!?"

"Because what you're doing is wrong!" Lan told him. "Don't you know what the people are going through now!?"

"No, but I couldn't care less, anyway!" the man snapped back. "And how is a kid like you able to get through World Three's viruses!?"

"World Three!? I should have known!"

"Bah! Enough of this! Elecman, zap 'em!"

"Already on it," Elecman smirked, as Megaman prepared for battle. In truth, Elecman was taking it really easy on his opponent, for he knew of his own advantage: the generator! Megaman's attacks proved useless against him, for the damage could be easily recovered. After Megaman attacked, lightning bolts shot down on Elecman's back and he glowed green. This was repeated several times until Megaman finally caught on.

"Man, nothing's working!" Lan growled.

"It must be the electricity here!" Megaman assumed.

"Hee hee! That's right!" Elecman smirked. "As long as power's being generated, I can't be stopped!"

Just as things couldn't get worse over that fact, Megaman suddenly keeled over! His body tone darkened slightly as he began to pant in exhaustion.

"Urgh... No... Lan..."

"Megaman?" Lan called for him. "Megaman!?"

* * *

**In The Real World...**

The next thing Lan heard was Elecman call out an attack, then Megaman's scream of pain.

"Megamaaaan!" Taking a look at the PET's screen, he noticed the battery had died! "Darn it! Why now!? I have to do something about Megaman!"

"First, we need to stop the generator!" the scientist said next to the boy. "Even if your Navi can still fight, that won't fix the problem of World Three's Navi's healing properties! Stopping the generator is the only way!"

"But what about Megaman!?"

"Don't worry about it," the scientist answered, holding in front of Lan some sort of contraption. "I made this handheld generator while you were fighting. It will recharge your PET's battery in no time, but it only has enough power for one use! I'll use it on your PET, while you go and turn off the power! We need to act together if we're to stop this guy!"

"... Thanks, mister!" Lan grinned, making his way to the power room.

The scientist plugged the generator into the PET and flipped the switch. Meanwhile, Lan rushed across the hallway and into the power room. Inside was a massive wall of a generator, with a little switch in the middle of it. The orange bars dipping higher and lower represented how much power was being generated per second. Lan rushed for the switch, only to notice a field of electricity surrounding it.

"Man, looks like I'll have to take the shock!" Lan groaned. "Well, here goes!"

The moment Lan placed his hands on the switch, he could feel the volts course through into him. Growling in his struggle and pain, he continued to push down on the switch. As he pushed, he felt the urge to scream, but didn't actually let it out, for he didn't want anyone else getting involved. Thoughts of saving Megaman played in his mind as he felt the handle sink down slightly. With a little more effort and strength mustered up, Lan finally pushed the switch as far down as he could, throwing himself on the floor in the process. The bars were completely empty, meaning that no more power was being generated.

At least, that was what Lan hoped it meant.

* * *

**Virus Log**

Altered Mr Progs: Mr Progs, in control of World Three, that attack their opponents with electricity based attacks

Billys: yellow balls with feet, lightning bolt like shapes coming out their heads and probes for arms, used for sending slow moving balls of electricity

Canodumb2s: bluer, stronger versions of Canodumbs

* * *

Well, that's all for this week. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed making it. See you all next time for a double round of battles!

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever, and stay upbeat, y'all!~


	17. A Double Dose Of Duels

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

* * *

Before I begin, I'd like to thank kazikamikaze24 for adding this story to their story alerts and favorites.

Reply to kazikamikaze24's review of Chapter 16: I'm not sure if I'll be doing the entire Battle Network series. Chances of Network Transmission, Battle Network 2 and Battle Network 3 are looking better than chances of 4, 5 and 6. Though they're all at least above 50:50, we'll just have to see what happens, won't we?

I appreciate the positivity. I love to hear that I'm honestly pleasing people.

One of your all time favorite video game series, huh? What is it about Battle Network series that makes it stand to you from other games?

Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 16: If I was electrocuted like that, I'd think it would hurt, too. But Lan's fine.

Reply to nhinhonhinho's review of Chapter 16: Glad to know I'm pleasing you with my works!

Wait. Are you writing a Megaman Battle Network novelization or a Battle Network fanfic in general?

* * *

**In The Power Plant Network...**

"W-what!? What have you done to the generator!?" Elecman shouted, feeling power slowly fade away from him. The alight streams on some of the platforms dimmed slightly and the lightning that crackled in the cyberspace stopped, leaving behind the darkness and stillness of the clouds. Just when things couldn't get any worse for the World Three Navi, Megaman slowly pushed himself up from the cyber ground, his body tone returning to normal.

"Sh-Shocking for you, ain't it?" Megaman taunted Elecman with a smirk. He thanked the scientist who generated power to him afterwards, getting the typical 'no problem' response.

"Megaman! We have to get him while we can!" the blue Navi heard his NetOp call to him.

"Lan! You stopped the generator!"

"Aaahh! You little brat!" Count Zap yelled in rage. "Elecman! Zap that Navi now!"

"But Zap, the power-"

"I don't care!" Count Zap snapped, interrupting his Navi. "They're in the way and Lord Wily said that we must delete all who stand in our way! No matter what!"

"You're right. I won't let some kid and his Navi get in the way of World Three!" Elecman said, charging a blue spark of electricity in his hand. "Electric Boomer!" Thrusting his hand out, he released an energy ball that pulsed with volts, though it seemed slower than Megaman expected. Megaman jumped over the attack and let loose with his Mega Buster.

No longer able to recover damage, Elecman was forced to fight at his best. After receiving an Electro Sword from Count Zap, he rushed at Megaman and slashed at him, but to no avail. Spinning around, Elecman swung the blade at his opponent once more, only resulting in another failure.

"Gaaah! Why can't I hit you!?" he screamed, missing another swing. Eventually, the electric based Navi did hit something, but it wasn't Megaman. Lan sent the blue Navi a Wide Sword, which said Navi used to clash blades with his opponent. In a power struggle, Megaman slowly gained the upper hand, forcing his opponent away. He lunged for him in pursuit and Elecman took a slash to the chest.

Clutching his wound, Elecman's Electro Sword faded away. He fired another Electric Boomer. It traveled slowly, but as it did so, Elecman charged yellow sparks around the same hand used for the previous attack. As he thrust his hand out, a long Thunderbolt stream burst out, piercing through the Electric Boomer, catching Megaman off guard and paralyzing said Navi. Receiving another Electro Sword from Count Zap, Elecman shot out at his opponent and swung the electricity infused blade, but there was nothing left!

"What!?" Elecman growled, frantically turning around. "Where are you!?"

"Right here!" Megaman called out from somewhere. Elecman didn't think he would be there, but he looked upwards. And there he was! "Ha ha! Nice timing on sending me that Area Steal, Lan!"

"Hah! You know me!" Lan responded cockily. "Now, let's finish this! Cyber Sword! Battle chip in! Download!"

As Megaman descended, he received the sword. He raised it high. Just as the Navi was about to land, Elecman swung his Electro Sword at him. Megaman dodged the attack by swerving a little to the left and swung his blade at his opponent, who roared in pain as he tumbled across the cyber ground.

"That's it!" Count Zap snapped. "If you keep this up, all of our work will be for nothing, Elecman! Jack out now and give me the Elec Program!"

"Urgh... All right!" Elecman responded. Addressing Megaman, he vowed, "Listen, you! Now that World Three has all four Super Programs, you're finished! Finished!" Megaman lunged for Elecman, but it was too late. He was gone.

"ELECMAN, LOGGING OUT."

Megaman simply stood there. Was Elecman telling the truth? Would World Three finally win? Lan and Megaman contemplated on this, but the contemplation was interrupted by the arrival of another Navi.

"Darn. Too late."

Megaman turned around. At the sight he saw, he gasped, "Protoman!?"

"Grr... Where's Elecman? I heard that his memory data carries the location to World Three's server location."

"Well, he... jacked out."

"What!? I bet you had something to do with it!"

"Well, yes, but-"

"Darn it! If you amateurs didn't get in the way, our plan to lure in World Three with fake data would have succeeded!"

"Fake data?" Lan repeated. "Then, this was all-"

"Hmph. I've had enough of this," Chaud interrupted him. "Protoman, delete the kid's Navi. The two brats have caused us enough trouble as it is!"

"Yes, Lord Chaud!" the red Navi responded, readying his Cyber Sword. The reason for it being purple, unlike the regular blue Cyber Sword, was that it was a trademark weapon customized into Protoman (much like Megaman's Mega Buster, which was a trademark weapon customized into the blue Navi).

"Wait, Protoman!" said Navi protested, backing away from Protoman. "This isn't the time!"

"Silence," Protoman said stoically. "Prepare for deletion." He lunged at Megaman with his blade, but narrowly missed. Megaman fired shots from his Mega Buster, only to have them dodged by Protoman. The two Navis clenched their free fists and threw them against each other's, the force of the punches recoiling them away slightly.

Megaman fired at his opponent again, only to have the attack dodged and Protoman taunting him by saying, "Nice try, but you're gonna have to do better than that!" Lunging for Megaman, Protoman slashed his sword once more, only to miss.

"Urgh, this guy's serious, Lan," Megaman told him.

"I know, but we can't give up now, not after saving the power plant!" Lan responded.

"If you just stayed out of the way, I wouldn't have had to do this!" Chaud reminded him.

"What's with you, anyway!?" Lan snapped, as Megaman and Protoman continued to fight.

"Hmph. What's it to you? I was just doing my job and you got in the way!"

"Grr! Megaman! Get that guy's Navi! Cyber Sword! Battle chip in! Download!"

Megaman received the blade. Protoman rushed at him and swung his own sword, but Megaman jumped out of the way. Whirling around, Protoman swung his blade again. At the same time, Megaman tried to slash at Protoman, but the purple blade got in the way and a power struggle ensued. The two Navis pushed themselves forward, in hopes of toppling over the other. However, no one was going anywhere. The two Navis were evenly matched.

"Not... bad... for an amateur," Protoman growled.

"I'm... just... getting started," Megaman assured him.

"We'll see about that!" Protoman and Megaman each took a small step away from each other. They swung their blades at each other's and pushed them through to their lefts. There was a pause. Swinging their blades once more, they brought them back to their rights. There was another pause. Another swing. Another pause. A swing. A pause. Then, Megaman and Protoman rushed past each other, smashing their blades against each other's.

It was still an even match. Neither Navi showed any signs of giving up. Megaman's Cyber Sword faded away, leaving him with his regular arm. Taking the chance, Protoman shot at Megaman and slashed upwards at him, finally doing some damage. As the blue Navi flipped about in the air, Lan sent him a Hi Cannon (a chip Lan's father sent him a while ago), which transformed Megaman's arm into a navy blue cannon. Since Megaman noticed that Protoman was a quick fighter, he figured that a change of tactics wouldn't hurt. He landed on his two feet. Then, bringing the side of the Hi Cannon to his chest, he dashed towards his opponent.

"Hmph. You think that will work?" Protoman sneered, readying for Megaman's attack. Megaman pointed the Hi Cannon at Protoman, but he immediately leaped upwards and landed behind him. After taking a quick glance back, Megaman whirled around, swinging the Hi Cannon at Protoman's stomach area. Afterwards, he fired it for a solid amount of damage. The Hi Cannon disappeared and Megaman's arm returned.

"Yeah! We got him now!" Lan cheered.

"Hah! Don't get so cocky, kid!" Chaud growled. "Protoman! Fire Sword! Battle chip in! Download!"

"Fine! You wanna play like that!? Megaman! Electro Sword! Battle chip in! Download!"

Protoman somersaulted and landed on his two feet, receiving his Fire Sword in the process. His default blade changed from purple to orange as flames burned around it. Megaman's arm formed into his Electro Sword, electric sparks flying around it. Once again, the two fighters rushed at each other and clashed blades with each other. Like before, they were still evenly matched. However, Protoman decided to play dirty. He clenched his fist. As fire and electricity struggled to topple each other's wielders, Megaman noticed what Protoman was doing and clenched his own fist. The two were thrust at and collided with each other, separating the two Navis apart. In desperation, they rushed at each other again, smashing their blades against each other. Little sparks of fire and electricity flew out as the Fire Sword and Electro Sword were constantly being swung against each other.

As the swings came and went, they began to slow down. Megaman and Protoman were getting exhausted. As if trying to respond to it, the Fire Sword and Electro Sword disappeared, the Navi's arms reforming in their places. The Navis fell on their knees. Their palms supported them from falling to the cyber ground. As they panted, Protoman only had one thing to say.

"H-How...? How... can a civilian Navi... be equal to... an Official?"

"..."

"It's... impossible!"

"Officials can fight alone, can't they?" Megaman asked him.

"Huh?"

"I'm a civilian Navi, so I can't fight by myself," Megaman continued, a smile pulling across his face. "Lan's here to back me up and we're so close to each other, we might as well be brothers!"

"That's right!" Lan grinned. "The better friends you are with your NetOp, the better you'll fight."

"Friends...?" Protoman had to admit that the little brats had a point. Was Protoman as close to Chaud as he thought he was? Well, he followed his NetOp's orders. He never complained once, either! Chaud was content with it and so was Protoman! But was it enough? Was their relationship merely a 'master-servant' one?

"D-Don't listen to that garbage, Protoman!" Chaud grunted, interrupting his Navi's thoughts. "Jack out!"

"Please wait, Lord Chaud!" Protoman protested. He said to the other Navi, "Hey, you're... Megaman, right?" Megaman nodded. "Just tell me one thing. Are you really that close to your NetOp?"

"Of course," Megaman smiled. "I wouldn't have said so if it wasn't the truth!"

"Friend... Brother... Huh, to be honest, I never thought about that until now..."

"Let's go, Protoman! Jack out now!" Chaud commanded with an impatient tone in his voice.

"Yes... sir..." Protoman replied solemnly, doing as he was told.

"PROTOMAN, LOGGING OUT."

By Megaman's suggestion, he and Lan left the scene, too.

"MEGAMAN, LOGGING OUT."

* * *

**At the Restaurant...**

After Lan flipped the generator switch open, light returned to the power plant, the entire building and all of DenTech City. He made his way down to the restaurant to see how his mother was holding up.

"Lan! You're alive!" Haruka gasped in relief. She rushed to her son and wrapped her arms embarrassingly tight around him, sobbing slightly on his shirt. "Where were you? I... I was so worried!"

"Uh, sorry about that, mom," Lan responded. "But I'm fine, see? And so is Megaman." At that moment, the PET rang. There was a message from Lan's father. It read 'That was a long blackout! You okay, Lan?' To this, Lan laughed, "That's good ol' dad for you, mom!" He typed up a message of his own. He was to send this to Yuichiro: 'Hey, dad. I'm fine. Mom's here for me, Megaman's here for me and I know you're there for me!'

"Well, I guess the party's over," Haruka sighed, noticing everyone take off for the elevator. "Should we go home, Lan?"

After typing up and sending his message, Lan replied, "Yeah, but can we stop for something to eat on the way? I don't remember the last time I ate! I'm starving!"

Laughter came from Lan, Megaman and Haruka. DenTech City was at peace once more.

* * *

**However, Somewhere Else...**

In the same place World Three's meetings took place in stood Lord Wily. Neither Mr Match, Maddy nor Count Zap were present and Yahoot just left the scene. The four colored platforms held special orbs. Those orbs were the key to Wily's plan.

"Wonderful! Simply wonderful!" Wily cackled. "I have them all! I have all four Super Programs! Fire, Wood, Aqua and Elec! Ho ho ho ho ho! By combining the four, I can finally create it! And once I do, I can delete the world! No more annoying machines! Finally, my revenge is at hand... Wah hah hah hah hah hah!"

* * *

Well, that was a fun one to write. The fight between Megaman and Protoman was the most fun! I'm quite happy with this week's update and I hope you, my readers, are happy, too. Stay tuned, guys!

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever, and stay upbeat, y'all!~


	18. Where In The World Is World Three?

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

* * *

Before I begin, I'd like to thank Pokemonlatiasfan for adding this story to their story alerts.

Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 17: It is indeed time, though I'm not too big on this arc. Sure, important plot stuff happens, but this is where the fun stops here for Lan and friends. I like my humor and happiness!

Reply to nhinhonhinho's review of Chapter 17: I'll find it and check it out as soon as I can.

I think I'm getting the hang of describing fight sequences and I hope to do well.

* * *

**The Next Morning...**

"'Lan, you're friends with that Chaud boy, aren't you?'"

"What!? The one that tried to delete Megaman!? Yeah, we're the best of friends!" Lan snarled sarcastically. "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but what was dad thinking sending me that message, Megaman?"

"Hold on, there's more," Megaman told his NetOp. "'I see him at the lab sometimes, but this time, he seemed a little blue. Maybe his job as an Official isn't going too well? In any case, could you try talking to him for me? I would do it myself, but I have a job to do. Thanks!' Well, Lan, guess we're gonna see Chaud."

"Do we have to?" Lan groaned, making his way out.

"It's the right thing to do," Megaman said.

"Fine... But if that guy gets on my nerves again..."

Well, something got on his nerves, that was for sure. But it wasn't what Chaud said. It was the fact that Chaud wasn't at SciLab at all! After deciding to ask one of scientists where he went, Lan found out that Chaud went to DenTech Town.

"He said that he heard that a World Three member is there!" the scientist added.

"What!? Well, what's he trying to do with them?"

"I heard that he's supposed to find World Three's address. I guess that's why he's looking for members."

"Man... Who knows what World Three's up to there!? Let's go, Megaman! Thanks, mister!"

In a rush, Lan headed for the Metroline and entered the train, barely squeezing through the train's closing doors. After getting off at DenTech Town, he made his way round the hustle and bustle of the busyness and citizens. He searched all over the Center, but when Lan headed for the entrance to the East, he found a boy with black and white hair talking with a normal looking woman.

"Chaud?" Lan gasped.

"If you're with World Three, you should know about the Undernet!" Chaud told the female in front of him. "Tell me where it is! Now!"

"I told you! I don't know anything about World Three!" the 'citizen' continued to protest.

"Darn! Another false lead..." Chaud growled. "How will I get to the Undernet...?" As the woman walked away in frustration, Chaud turned around, catching sight of the annoying brat again. "You!? I'm busy, so leave me alone!" Chaud snarled.

"What's with you!?" Lan snapped back. "Dad told me that you were having problems, so I just came to help!"

"Hah! Why in the world would I need help from the likes of you!? Out of my way!" Enraged, Chaud brought his right arm up and shoved Lan to a building wall. Crossing his arms, he stormed away.

"Stupid Chaud..." Lan muttered as he pushed himself off the ground.

"Lan..." Megaman spoke up. "I know you don't wanna help Chaud, but we have to stop World Three's plan!"

"... I know. Let's try to find their server address first."

"But before we do that, we need to get into the Undernet," Lan's Navi reminded him. "Chaud said that any World Three member should know how to do it, but asking them in front of their faces won't work."

"Hm... Do former World Three members know how to get in?" Lan questioned.

"Possibly. I assume that the first thing they get when they join World Three is how to get to the Undernet."

"Hm..." Lan thought hard about who to ask and what to ask the person. In his train of thought, he found himself at DenTech Town's Metroline. "Let's go back to ACDC."

"Huh?"

"I think I know who to ask."

At ACDC Town, Lan started to look around. The guy had to be somewhere! Eventually, though, he did find someone outside a building. This certain someone was a familiar face. His slightly scruffy suit, his overly fuzzy hair and the way he adjusted his glasses gave it away.

"Higsby!"

"Wha!?" Higsby frantically turned round, not catching onto the fact that the boy who called him was right behind him! "Lan! Nice to see ya again!" the man smiled. He took a glance at the building. It was his chip shop, which was built and started up not too long after the school jacking. As a way to redeem himself, he decided to start his business of selling chips to the public. It was quite a success and no one hissed at Higsby for what he did anymore. He and Numberman were relieved to find that the whole thing was forgiven and forgotten by the public (but the two knew that they themselves would always remember...). Lan stopped by every now and then, but this time was no exception. As Higsby unlocked the doors to his shop, he asked Lan, "Well, what will it be?"

"Um, actually, Higsby, I need to ask you something," Lan answered, closing the door behind him.

"Huh? What is it?"

"Um..." Lan ushered Higsby behind the cardboard cutout of Numberman, for he didn't want anyone else to hear what he was about to ask. For good measure, the two crouched down. "Um, this is a strange thing to ask," Lan began in a hushed tone. "But... Well, you were once... Uh..."

"Yes? Yes?"

"Do you... know anything about... how to get to the Undernet?"

"..."

"Uh..."

Higsby, suddenly cracking into a smile, guessed, without minding the volume of his voice, "So, you wanna get inside the Undernet, right!?"

"Higsby!" Lan sighed. "Don't be so loud!"

"Oh, sorry there." He took a peek at the shop from the Numberman cutout. Luckily, the doors were still closed and no one entered the shop. Crouching once more, he looked at Lan. "Anyway... I'll get you in. Thanks to you, I learned the error of my ways and left World Three, so it's the least I could do! Just hand me your PET and I'll do the rest."

Lan did as told. Then, Higsby entered a bunch of codes into the PET at quite a pace. If anyone else were to in the shop, they would have heard all the clicking. In a few seconds, a beep was heard.

"Alright. I sent some codes into your PET," Higsby said. "Get to the Central DenTech Area, find a large 'W3' symbol and use them to enter."

"Gotcha. Thanks, Higsby!" Lan replied.

"But, Lan, why do you need to get in?"

"Huh? Oh, we're trying to find World Three's server address."

"What? The server's deep in the Undernet!" Higsby told him. "But there are three locks, one after another, which need to be unlocked."

"Do you have any idea how to open them?"

"Unfortunately, I don't."

"Man..."

"But one of my old World Three partners is at SciLab now. He left and regrets having worked for them. He might be able to help you out."

"So, before we get into the Undernet, we'll need to know how to open the three locks in it, huh?" Lan said to Megaman.

"It would seem like the best solution," the Navi replied.

"Sigh... But we don't have any time to waste! Thanks, Higsby, but we need to get going now!"

"Alright, my friend! Good luck!" Higsby cheered.

And so, Lan and Megaman headed for SciLab once again, only this time, there was no Chaud to deal with. Thank goodness for that, Lan figured. Regardless, there was a mission that needed to be accomplished. After Lan arrived at SciLab, he asked each scientist if they knew a man called Higsby. He could have plainly asked them if they were former World Three members, but that would have made him look suspicious. One of the scientists Lan asked knew who Higsby was, so he asked Lan why he needed the information. Lan explained everything, leaving little details behind, and the scientist was following what he was talking about.

"I see... Many people like Higs and myself quit World Three for different reasons," he told Lan. "I'll give you a code for one of the locks, but I'll need your PET." After receiving it, he entered another code on it and handed it back. "The other locks can be open with more codes," he said. "Two other ex members of World Three should have them. Remember, look out for a young lady and an old man."

With these clues, Lan set out again. However, the problem was where to find a young lady and an old man. By Megaman's suggestion, Lan headed back to DenTech Town to find the young lady. The one Chaud questioned seemed like the woman the scientist was talking about. However, she was nowhere to be found, even after a thorough search through all five sections, even after repeated thorough searches. During another cycle, there was one woman which piqued Lan's interest.

"Ms Mari!?"

"Ha ha! Not quite," the woman chuckled. She had the same hair, skin, eyes and even voice! However, what made her different was her attire. "I'm Mari's twin sister, Yuri! She only wishes she was as good a teacher as me!" Lan chuckled at the joke, but the laugh died down rather quickly because he had something important to ask her. She may have been the wrong person, but it was worth a shot.

"Um... You wouldn't happen to know about... World Three, do you?"

"M-Me? I don't... know what you're talking about!" Ms Yuri laughed. Like Lan's laugh, her's died down rather quickly, as well. "Wait, let me see that Navi of yours, boy." She took a look at Megaman, who gasped at her resemblance to Ms Mari. Then, she sighed. "Mari told me about this Navi..." Turning to Lan, she said, "You know, I've been waiting for someone like you to appear. Yes, I'm an ex member of World Three. I've been playing the fool trying to hide from them... But enough about me. Why do you want to find ex World Three members, hm?"

"Well, you see, I need to get into the Undernet," Lan began to explain. "But I learned that there's locks that need to be opened to get to World Three's server and that three ex members have them. Are you one of them?"

"Yes, I am. Hand me your PET." Lan did as told and saw Yuri enter something on it. "You know, I wouldn't give this to just anyone, but I suppose you're ready. Here. I entered a code for the second lock you need. I have faith that you can stop World Three."

"Thanks, ma'am," Lan simply said before taking off. _Man, if Ms Mari found out that Ms Yuri once worked for World Three, she wouldn't know what to do! _There was one more ex member that had a code. Bearing in mind what the scientist from SciLab had said, Lan returned to ACDC Town. There was an old man there that recently moved into the town.

"He never said why he moved in," Megaman said to Lan on the train. "Who knows? Maybe World Three is linked to it."

"Hm, he always did get more stressed than usual when he heard that World Three was up to something," Lan mused. After a good thirty five minutes, Lan got off the train and went around to find the old man. When he found him, he asked about the lock and if he knew anything about World Three.

"So, you think I know something about World Three, huh?"

"Well, not really 'know' about them, but..."

"Ah, who am I kidding?" the elderly man interrupted the boy. "No point being senile anymore. Yes, I was a member, but not just any member, Wily's assistant!" Lan resisted the urge to gasp at this. "But I'm no longer with World Three because that Yahoot fellow took my place. I've been replaced, you see."

"Man. That stinks," Megaman frowned.

"You bet your data it does," the man said to him. After asking Lan to hand over his PET and after receiving it, he entered the third and final code for the third lock. "Perhaps the one to stop the EndGame will be you, my boy, and not an Official! Heh heh heh!"

"Hah hah. I'll be sure to save everyone from them!" Lan smiled. After that conversation, he headed for home.

Lan's mother was just about to leave for some shopping and the two of them said their goodbyes. This left Lan alone in the house and no one to stop him from entering the Undernet. Lan heard rumors of an 'Undernet' before in school, which made claims about it being extremely dangerous, a one way ticket to deletion for a Navi. But that didn't stop Lan and Megaman from entering.

* * *

One of my less favorite chapters to write. All there really is gameplay wise is Lan going from place to place, back and forth. Those who've played the game will notice that I've moved the Memos thing before entering the Undernet. This way, I won't have to write Megaman going in, going out and going back in. It's easier for me.

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever, and stay upbeat, y'all!~


	19. Under Where? There, In The Undernet!

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

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Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 18: Glad that the one line amused you! Looking back on it, it was a nice touch to add little bits of humor to such a serious case.

Speaking of serious cases, here's the next chapter now!

* * *

**In The Cyberworld...**

After making his way through the ACDC Area and Metroline Area, Megaman arrived at the 'DenTech Town Area', aka the 'Central DenTech Area'. Like the real world counterpart, it was a large community of Navis and Mr Progs. Like the real world's DenTech Town, it was split off into five different sections: N, E, S, W and C, obviously abbreviations of the names of the town's s five sections. The size of the Area was quite a sight for Megaman to behold. However, there wasn't any time for sight seeing, for he had a mission to accomplish. He needed to find a 'W3' sign somewhere.

Along the way, he deleted several viruses, old and new. There were Flappy2s (stronger and redder Flappys), Flappy3s (even stronger gold Flappys), Dynamytes (bushes with hands protruding out of them, which were used to throw grenades) and Mettool3s (the fastest, strongest and bluest of the Mettools). Individually, they were nothing, but together, they posed a bit of a problem for Megaman. That wasn't saying much, though. The blue Navi still easily deleted the viruses that were persistent in getting in his way. Eventually, Megaman discovered two paths of cyber trees, parallel to one another. The trees themselves took on darker tones. Suspicious, Megaman followed the path in front of him. No one else dared to follow him, for passersby thought he was crazy! What he discovered was a large wall, a large black wall with rusty orange characters on it. They read 'W3'.

"This must be it, Lan," Megaman said to his NetOp.

"Looks like it," Lan agreed. "Let's use the codes Higsby gave us." Megaman did as suggested and stepped in front of the series of buttons in front of the wall. He pressed a few of them in a sequence and in a few seconds, the wall disappeared. Then, a whole new area became visible to him. It looked kinda like the ACDC Area, except the tress had no leaves, barren cyber ground took the place of the grass and the cyberspace was an eerie red.

As Megaman took a step into what he assumed was the Undernet, he couldn't help but see silhouettes. He readied his Mega Buster, but not before the wall appeared behind him once more, sealing him in the Undernet.

"What's up, Megaman?" Lan asked him.

"I think I see viruses," Megaman said, taking slow steps. The figures became clearer to him. He gasped. "They are viruses, Lan! And big ones at that!" Three machine cannons, each with four legs and large shields in front of them. IronShields! The one on the left was pinkish with a gray shield, while the stronger one on the very right was tan with a red shield. The strongest of the three, the apparent leader of the trio, donned a white metal coat and a gold shield.

"Man... This looks bad..." Lan groaned. "But it look like there's no choice! Megaman, let's go!"

"Right!"

The battle began with all three IronShields raising their namesakes up, then firing large cannonballs at their Navi enemy. They all headed for one point, so Megaman dodged them easily and fired away with his arm cannon, but he was too slow in shooting, for the shields were put down again. Guessing that the backs were their weaknesses, the blue Navi decided to be a little crafty and leap over the cannon like viruses to shoot, but they were too clever. They turned round, facing Megaman as he jumped, and raised their shields up to stop his shots. Then, there was just a staredown.

_If attacking these guys from the back won't work, I guess I'll have to stall for time until they put up their shields!_

Neither the Navi nor the viruses made a move. Eventually, the IronShields made theirs. Cannonballs were shot at Megaman, who rushed ahead of them and shot the weakest of the three viruses down. The tan and red IronShield scuttled around Megaman and faced his back. It, along with the white and gold virus, circled round Megaman, who frequently turned back and forth. By the sound of cannonballs being fired from behind, said Navi ducked under one and shot the virus down, courtesy of a Hi Cannon. All that remained was the white and gold IronShield. In rapid succession, it fired a fleet of cannonballs, dropping the shield in front of it in between every shot. Megaman barely made it through most of them and was blasted in the stomach by the last one. Struggling to get up, he witnessed another wave of cannonballs heading his way.

Suddenly, Megaman disappeared and reappeared behind the IronShield, thanks to Lan's use of Area Steal. Taking the window of opportunity, Megaman rapidly fired at the virus' back. A dent was left, but the virus itself was still around. After turning around, the IronShield made use of its four legs and rushed at Megaman, ramming him with its shield on a dead tree. This was followed up by another cannonball fired. As the IronShield prepared to launch another one, Megaman received an Electro Sword during his recovery. Dodging cannonball after cannonball, the Navi awaited the right time to swing. He had to be quick, for the blade wouldn't last forever. He got closer and closer, dodging more cannonballs shot his way, until he was an arm's length away from the IronShield. Megaman immediately slashed at the virus, following up with another slash in the perpendicular direction. A stab followed that, making the virus burst into little clusters of data, deleting the IronShield.

"Whew! That was a tough one," Megaman sighed in relief, his arm returning to its original place.

"But we made it through, huh?" Lan added.

"'We'? Who was the one out there risking their life?" Megaman teased his NetOp.

"C'mon! If it weren't for that Area Steal, you would have been gone!" said boy grinned. The two friends laughed away for a few seconds until the seriousness of the the current situation loomed over them. "Now, let's find those locks higsby was talking about."

"I'm on it," Megaman responded calmly.

Megaman began to explore the Undernet, which was infested with tough viruses. He and Lan heard rumors of the Undernet being not only dangerous, but also a massive network, almost as massive as the entire regular Internet. Like the Internet, the Undernet has been divided into smaller segments, though how they were separated was entirely random. The area Megaman was in was where World Three hid their server address. In order to get there, he had to open the three locks that stood in the way.

An ominous feel in the Undernet shook all data. No Mr Progs dared to hide out here and no normal Navi dared to venture deep in the Undernet. The few that roamed were criminals' Navis that took shelter from the Officials. Fortunately for Megaman, he didn't encounter any of these renegades on his search for the three locks. The locks were actually walls like the one at the entrance. It took a long time, but eventually, Megaman found and opened all three locks and he passed through the third in triumph.

However, what Megaman discovered was not only a blotchy, dark path with 'W's along it, but a Navi guarding it! This orange Navi had bomb like shoulders and a mohawk like shape protruding from the top of his head. The emblem on his chest was shaped like an explosion of sorts.

"Huh? How did you get in here?" he grunted in his gruff voice. "Who are you? And what brings you to me, the great Bombman?"

"I'm Megaman! I'm here to get World Three's server address! If you have it, then hand it over!"

"Hah! No can do, little man!" Bombman grinned. "Anyone who gets in World Three's way gets deleted! Deletion for you!" A lit bomb suddenly appeared in Bombman's hands and was chucked straight at Megaman, who dodged the actual weapon itself, but barely missed the incoming explosion. Bombman took this chance to ram his shoulder at his enemy for quite some damage.

After Megaman recovered from the fall, he assumed that all of Bombman's bombs would be lit from the get go, so he had to focus every one of his Mega Buster shots on the actual bomb loving Navi. What he didn't know was that Bombman was able to take plenty of abuse. As said Navi did so, he laughed tauntingly. Then, after summoning two bombs at once, he hurled them both at Megaman. Megaman leaped up to their level and kicked both bombs at their original wielder. To counter this, Bombman threw another one of his weapons at an incoming one, leaping out the way of the explosion which occurred. As the cyber smoke began to clear away, Bombman couldn't help but see a shadow in it all, with one hand filled with a sort of energy. This energy was hurled above Bombman's head and transformed into a silver weight, which began to crash into him from below. After barely dodging the Quake attack, he tilted his head upwards slightly. He found Megaman right above him!

"Gah! How did you get there!?" Bombman demanded from him.

"Just a little magic!" Megaman grinned sarcastically. "We have him now, Lan!"

"Let's go, Megaman!" Lan called out. "Fighter Sword! Battle chip in! Download!"

As Megaman descended, he received the power packed blade. Raising it high, it turned into a red stream of energy. With a battle cry, he swung the weapon down at Bombman, who roared in pain.

"But... But... How!?" Bombman yelled as he clutched his wound. "I've been undefeated since Day One!" A blue orb shot out of Bombman. It floated over to Megaman and went into him. Megaman could then feel knowledge sinking into him.

"Lan, I think I have World Three's server address," he said.

"Great job!" the NetOp cheered. "Let's use it to break into World Three's network!"

"Fool..." Bombman uttered in a low voice, his body beginning to flash. "They don't call me Bombman for nothing." As the bombs on his shoulders were set alight, the body continued to flash rapidly. "If I go down, I'm taking you with me!"

"What are you doing!?" Megaman shouted, shielding himself.

"Megaman! Look out!" Lan yelled, before he heard a massive explosion boom in the Undernet. He shut his eyes in fear. What happened to Megaman?

The thick cluster of cyber smoke slowly cleared away. Megaman still stood, but Bombman did not. And neither did the dark path to World Three's server.

"Darn it! We were so close!" Lan groaned.

"Hey, don't worry, Lan," Megaman said. "I'm sure we can still use the address somehow."

"Hm... Let's go talk to dad."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll jack out now." In a blue light, Megaman disappeared from the Undernet.

"MEGAMAN, LOGGING OUT," a rather sinister computerized voice announced.

* * *

**Virus Log**

Flappy2s: stronger and redder Flappys

Flappy3s: even stronger gold Flappys

Dynamytes: bushes with hands protruding out of them, which are used to throw grenades

Mettool3s: the fastest, strongest and bluest of the Mettools

IronShields: pinkish machine cannons with four legs and gray shields

IronShield2s: tan IronShields with red shields, stronger shots and faster firing rates

IronShield3s: white IronShields with gold shields, even stronger shots and even faster firing rates

* * *

Why is it that I don't have fun writing chapters about fighting the Solo Navis (Navis without NetOps)? Whatever. What's done is done. I guess I'll see you guys next chapter.

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever, and stay upbeat, y'all!~


	20. Coming Down To This

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

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Reply to nhinhonhinho's review of Chapter 19: Thanks, but what did you like about it? The description? The pace?

Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 19: They didn't improve much in the anime, either. It's a shame. Maybe you're right on why I don't like them. I think the Solo Navis had potential, but it wasn't put to use at all!

* * *

**At Marine Harbor...**

"Ah, Lan!" For once, Yuichiro was at his lab! It was a convenient time for Lan, for he needed something very important from him. Yuichiro turned away from his work and faced his son with a smiling face.

"Hey, dad. You got a minute?"

"Of course."

"Cool!" Lan suddenly grinned, gaining a chuckle from his father.

"Ha ha, sorry for being away for so long. Anyway, how are you doing? Did you talk with Chaud?" Lan cringed at the name 'Chaud'. What a jerk he was! Protoman was a little better, but the fact that the red Navi served Chaud like a knight for his king irked Lan. "So, you had a fight with him?" Yuichiro guessed by that action. "Well, he can be hard to deal with..."

"Got that right..." Lan mumbled, turning slight away from his father. Turning back, he got out his PET and said, "Anyway, check this out."

On cue, Megaman released the blue orb he got from Bombman earlier. A small streak of a sort of energy orbited it and the letter 'W' flashed on it every now and then.

"Where did you get that!?" Yuichiro gasped in horror, knowing what it really was. "Isn't that-"

"Yep. World Three's server address," Megaman spoke up. "We... found it." He didn't want to say where. Lan's father was frightened enough!

"But we can't get through the network," Lan added.

"I... see..." his father said after calming down a little. "Well, with this, I'm sure we can find World Three's lab. With the technology here at SciLab, it should be no problem. Of course, once the location is found, I'll have to tell the Officials, including Chaud. Okay?"

"I guess," Lan sighed, staring out the window. For a few seconds, he pondered on something. He saved the house from the fire, the school from the reeducation program, the whole city from thirst, his friends from an explosion and the whole city again from a blackout. Why not take up the-

"Uh, Lan? You okay?" Yuichiro asked his son, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Look, I can tell you and Chaud don't get along too well, but we have to leave taking down World Three to the Officials."

"I know, but..."

"What is it, Lan?"

"I... I can't stand here and do nothing! Not while the Officials are giving everything they have to stop World Three! Dad, could you tell me the location of the base, too?"

"No. Out of the question."

"What? Why!? I defeated World Three loads of times, along with Megaman!"

"..."

"Did you ever get a call from mom about a fire at home? It was because of World Three and we was the one to put it out! Heard about the school jacking? We stopped it! The no water incident, we solved the problem! The Town's traffic lights going haywire, we fixed it! The blackout, we fixed it! Please, dad! Let us finish the job!"

The lab went silent. Lan's father was left in a state of shock. He caught news of his son being the one to save the day when those incidents occurred, but this was different! If Lan and Megaman messed up, who knew what would happen? It just wasn't worth risking it! Even still, Yuichiro gave in.

"Alright," he said slowly. "But on one condition. World Three's attacks will likely hurt more than ever. Megaman could be deleted! Then, who knows what will happen? Your actions could even trigger a war!"

"What!?"

"Yes. Lan Hikari, can you take responsibility for your actions?"

"..." What was there to say? The fate of the world, as Lan knew it, rested on his shoulders! But was he ready? These thoughts swirled in the boy's mind and continually steered him away from clear decisions. "I... I don't think I can," he finally said calmly.

"What...?"

"I know I can! Dad, just leave everything to me and Megaman!" A grin pulled along Lan's face as he boldly made his statement.

"Okay," Yuichiro responded worriedly. "I'll send you the location when I find it. For now, go home and rest. You will need it."

"Okay. Thanks, dad!" Lan smiled as he took off.

"But don't forget to train on occasion!" his father reminded him. "You'll need all the practice you can!"

"Don't worry! We've got this! Right, Megaman?"

"Yeah!" the blue Navi responded with confidence. However, inside, he knew that the battles ahead were going to be at their toughest. He also knew that Lan was a little worried.

_If we mess up, the whole world could crumble under World Three's rule!_

Both of them knew of the thought that swirled in their heads. The whole world was at stake! As Lan stepped outside of SciLab and started to walk to the Metroline, he took out his PET and called for his Navi.

"Lan? What is it?" he asked, only to get no reply. Megaman asked his NetOp, "Are you... worried?"

"Yeah," Lan sighed. "I mean, dad put it best. Our actions could trigger a war! I said that I was willing to take the responsibility, but to be honest, Megaman... I'm really nervous."

"Lan..."

"Yeah, we saved the day loads of times, but those were probably little things compared to what World Three will really pull out this time!"

"Lan... I know that they might be our final battles, but... Don't you think we should at least try?"

"What?"

"You said yourself, Lan. We can't sit around while the Officials officially break their backs to save us! And isn't it better to lose while trying than lose without trying?"

"Well..."

"Remember what we said to Protoman, too?" Megaman continued. "We have each other. I have you to back me up and you have me to fight for you. I like to think that I fight well because I have you, Lan."

"Megaman..."

"When the going gets tough, we'll always have each other to toughen ourselves up, right?"

"... Yeah... You're right! What was I worrying about the entire time?" Lan grinned. "Alright, Megaman! No matter what trick World Three pull from their sleeves, we'll take them down! It'll be a piece of cake!"

"Yeah!"

* * *

**Meanwhile...**

"Our address... SciLab has it now..." Yahoot grimaced. Out of Lord Wily's four minions, only Yahoot remained. He saw the way his master sent off Maddy, but he never knew what happened to Mr Match or Count Zap. Wily assured him that nothing drastic happened to them, but that wasn't the situation at hand. "Our base will be discovered in no time!"

"No matter..." Wily simply said, following up with a 'hee hee hee hee'. At once, the two began to witness the final fate of the four Super Programs.

The four orbs that hovered above their respective platforms floated upwards and were pulled towards the middle of the room, slowly, but surely, four differently pitched hums droning in the room. Yahoot gasped as the Super Programs flashed repeatedly when they neared each other, Lord Wily cackling meanwhile. Wood, Fire, Elec and Aqua united in a dazzling white light and an ear piercing screech. Both pairs of eyes and ears were shielded, while the orbs merged into one. As the light faded, Yahoot and Wily laid eyes on the violet orb, which had four energy streams surrounding it, all flashing the colors of each Super Program.

Yahoot's mouth gaped at the phenomenon that was...

"The Life Virus!" Wily's cackle sounded more maniacal by the second. "Now we can delete!"

"You mean... The EndGame is about to begin?" Yahoot asked his master.

"Yes. Finally, everyone will come to realize just what fools they are!"

* * *

Holy moly! The plot thickens! Stay tuned, everyone, for the final arc of the story!

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever, and stay upbeat, y'all!~


	21. The Beginning Of The End

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

* * *

Before I begin, I'd like to thank SadieYuki and evanyaphoenix for adding this story to their story alerts.

Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 20: Yeah, it was kinda short. I could have stuck it at the end of the chapter before, but it might have been too much to bear (besides, there was some filler about Lan and Megaman's little talk). I can't really read books that are too long (I'm able to, but I choose not to), unless it's a collection of different books, of course.

Some of the dialogue in BN1 was pretty lackluster (like the argument bit in the game), compared to other dialogue parts and compared to the rest of the series. I thought that the revamp was needed in this novelization. Apparently, it worked out pretty well.

Reply to nhinhonhinho's review of Chapter 20: I think I was asking about what it was about the battles you liked back in the reply of your Chapter 19 review. I think you repeated yourself there! ;)

About your Chapter 20 review, when it comes to a situation like Lan and Megaman's, I think it would be a good idea to expand on how they feel (describe the characters' minds, as you put it).

Uh... I don't think you wanna mention how Lan and Megaman are really related! I don't think some people reading this have played the game! Granted, it's a thing that gets mention throughout the series, but still...

* * *

**One Week Later...**

"Eeeeeeeek!"

"Mom! What's wrong?"

"Look at what's on TV! It's awful!"

Immediately, Lan rushed down the stairs and into the living room, Megaman worrying about what it was meanwhile. What the two caught notice of was a close up of an old man. His approximate age range was apparent in his white mustache and the fact that he had no hair on the very top of his head, emphasis on 'very'.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he began. "I am pleased to announce that World Three's master plan, the EndGame, is entering its final phase! Our next targets are this country's military satellites!" Megaman, Haruka and Lan, along with everyone else in the country, gasped in horror at this statement. The more faint hearted children fainted, while the elderly citizens's life spans were shortening by the second with the announcement going on. "We will be launching a hacking rocket from our lab. Once we have control, the EndGame begins!"

As the announcement continued, Megaman said to his NetOp, "We need to get to World Three's lab!"

"Right! Let's go!" Lan affirmed as he took off. He ignored his mother's worried call for him to come back. "Dad said that World Three's lab was in the mountains, right?" Lan asked his Navi.

"Yeah, but he said that there's no roads or railways to get there," Megaman responded with slight frustration. "Not even an airport will take us there... And walking's out of the question, that's for sure!"

"Then how the heck are World Three's goons getting in DenTech City!?"

"I have no idea..."

"Man, we need to find a way fast!"

"Wait a minute, Lan," Megaman said. "I don't think your dad said anything about the Metroline. Maybe there's a line that'll take us to World Three's base."

"Hm, that might work. But are we really gonna ask 'Can I have a ticket for World Three's base?' I would be crazy!"

"Hm..." Megaman saw Lan pacing back and forth ACDC Town. The blue Navi assumed that his NetOp was thinking of a way to get to the criminal organization's base, but he came up with an idea of his own. "Lan, maybe Higsby knows something."

"Of course! He's an ex member!" Lan realized, changing his course of action to heading for the chip shop. However, before he could open the door, he heard a voice call his name. The voice belonged to Tory. "Hey, what happened?" Lan asked him, noticing that something was up.

"I-I don't know," Tory said worriedly. "All I saw was Mr Higsby get taken away by some strange men!"

"What!?"

"He did throw something to me, though." Tory reached inside his pocket and took out a pass of some sort. The cream card was outlined in blue and had 'DO NOT LET NON MEMBERS HAVE THIS' written in orange. "I asked one of the staff if it was a valid pass, but he said 'no'," the boy continued. "But we did hear something weird..."

"Really? What?"

"Get this: we could hear another train, but there was no train going by!"

"What!?"

"Easy there, Lan," Megaman spoke up. "It might just be another line running."

"Maybe," Tory's Navi, Iceman, said. "But something gave us the chills about how that train sounded. I think there's more to it than that..."

"Let's move out and find that other line," Lan told Tory, who nodded in affirmation. Lan decided to take the left side of the town, while Tory headed for the right. At first, there was nothing suspicious. The trees had no secret door, there wasn't a booby trap in any of the fields of grass and there wasn't even a button anywhere to summon the station.

However, as Tory walked past the school gate, he couldn't help but hear something. He couldn't help but hear a train! In fear and confusion, he called Lan to meet him in front of the school gate. The two guessed that ACDC Elementary was more than meets the eye and decided to check around the front yard for a bit. Conveniently, yet strangely, the gates were unlocked...

The school's pond stood still, despite all that had happened so far. However, what Lan found behind it changed what he thought of it for the rest of his life. He felt around it, looking for something suspicious. What he found was...

"A door!?"

"Lan! What is it?" Just then, a 'woosh', the same sound Tory heard before, echoed. This time, it was louder than before. "Do you think it has something to do with the 'door' you found?" Tory asked.

"Sounds like our only lead," Lan said. "Let's go!" A swing on the handle opened the door, revealing a dimly lit staircase. The two boys walked down it, curious to know what stood at the bottom, little did they know that a girl, one who knew Lan and Tory, watched everything happen...

"Huh? Where did they disappear off to?" she gasped. She wanted to find the entrance to whatever it was that Lan and Tory went to, but she found herself turning away from the school and heading back.

Meanwhile, said boys found something they couldn't begin to imagine they'd find. They laid eyes on a checkered floor, a floor that they didn't think they'd find underground! As they took steps in, they laid eyes on what was in front of them: a train ticket gate, just like those of the Metroline stations!

"Well, this looks like the place..." Tory assumed.

"I'm gonna go ahead and use that ticket," Lan said, taking steps to the machine. "Then, I'll get to the base!"

"Lan! Wait!" Tory tried to warn his friend, but he was too late. The ticket was scanned, but access was denied.

"What!?" Lan gasped. "Is this thing out of date or something!?" At that moment, a alarm blared. It blared so loudly, that anyone on the upper floors of the school could have heard it! "Gah! Let's get out of here!" Lan tried to shout over it, covering his ears in the process. He and Tory sprinted up the stairs and left the scene.

"Well, what do we do next?" Tory asked his friend, panting meanwhile. "The pass must be expired..."

"I... I don't know... But we could see my dad. He could probably fix it!"

On that note, the two friends headed off to Marine Harbor once more. After the twenty minute long journey, they rushed over to SciLab and headed for where Yuichiro was.

"Dad! Check this out!" Lan said to his father, flashing out the pass. Yuichiro took it and took a close look at it.

"Yes, this is definitely the 'World Three Pass'," he said. "We've heard rumors of their secret Metroline. But where did you get such a thing?"

"Mr Higsby gave it to me, sir," Tory spoke up. "He threw it over to me while he was being hauled away by these strange men!"

"Really?" Yuichiro gasped.

"I tried to use the pass and get to World Three's base," Lan said. "But it didn't let me through the gate! Is there any way to fix it, dad?"

"Hmm..." Yuichiro looked at the back of the pass and made a conclusion from his observations. "All we need to do is change its expiration date."

"That's possible, dad!?"

"Of course." Lan's father took the pass over to some sort of machine and slotted it in. Afterwards, he typed up a code. Then, a green ray was emitted on the object. Happy that the machine changed the expiration date successfully,Yuichiro handed the pass back to his son, who thanked him and left the scene to get to World Three's base, along with his friend.

However, Yuichiro called over Tory and told him to stay put. Lan turned back to accompany him.

"Why, sir?" said boy asked the adult.

"This is something Lan needs to do," Yuichiro said to him. "Besides, it's bad enough that he's risking his own life out there because of my decision! I don't want to put his friend out there with him! Who knows what your father will think!?"

"Father..."

"Don't worry about it," Lan assured his friend. "I can handle it! Besides, who knows what'll happen?"

"... Alright. Good luck, Lan." Tory took his friend's hand and shook it.

"I'm gonna need it," his friend said. After he bid Tory and his father farewell, he left SciLab and made his way back to the secret Metroline. All his friends and family could do was wait...

A few minutes later, Yuichiro's phone rang.

"Dr Hikari speaking. ... Oh, honey! Hey!"

"Did Lan drop by your lab?" Haruka asked her husband in a worried tone.

"Hmm? Yes, they were. Are you... worried?"

"Yes..."

"Don't worry. I'll look out for them," Yuichiro assured her. "I won't let what happened ten years ago happen ever again..." The memory of the doctor's words a decade ago still haunted the scientist, even to that very moment.

_Your son... He's..._

"Sorry for calling you at work," Haruka said to her husband, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Oh no. I should be sorry for not spending enough time at home."

"Ha ha. I'll be fine... I... have to go now. Goodbye."

"See you soon." Just then, one of Yuichiro's colleagues burst in on the scene. The distraught look on his face meant that bad news was to be told.

"I've got info on the virus in World Three's rocket!" The scientist proceeded to explain everything to Yuichiro, who put on a thoughtful look on his face.

"We need to act now," he said. "Will you be able to help me?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Tory, I may need some help from you, too," Lan's father said to him as he turned to face him. "Will you be able to handle it?"

"I will."

"Good. We have to help Lan, or he won't stand a chance out there! And if Lan doesn't stand a chance, neither will..."

"Who, sir?"

"... Hub..."

* * *

I would have uploaded this chapter last week (and I had time, too!)., but I spent the entire time refining what I wrote for the final part of the game. Also, I have another ongoing fic I need to keep track of over at the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom. Busy times for me... Busy times...

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever, and stay upbeat, y'all!~


	22. The Past In The Present

**I own no Megaman characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Capcom.**

* * *

Before I begin, I'd like to thank Cruxis' Kingdom Heart Cherubim and kirbyisawesome for adding this story to their story alerts and favorites.

Reply to Rawr's review of Chapter 21: Yes, about a month or two after the previous chapter, the final arc kicks in! Grab your popcorn, slushies and fanboy/fangirl hats and foam fingers because it starts now!

* * *

**At World Three's Base...**

It wasn't clear water that rushed down the mountainside. Instead, it was a bright purple ooze looking liquid. The mountainside itself, which seemed to have recently lost all its green grass, was segmented into different levels, each of which were marked with numbers on metal doors. What Lan assumed was World Three's base sent chills down the boy's spine, if only because of that large skull bulging out the side of the second highest level. It appeared to only have one eye, a small, but bright, orange glow that pierced out of its left eye socket.

At the highest point of the eerie mountainside was a tall rocket. Lan eyed it for a moment.

"World Three's hacking rocket..." he assumed.

"We finally made it," Megaman said.

"Let's go! We have no time to waste just standing around!" On that note, Lan headed out.

As he scanned the area, he couldn't help but notice one of the various metal doors. It had the number '1' on it. However, what was intriguing was that it seemed to be already open. Being the only clear way to break into World Three's base, Lan went through.

As he did, his ears caught the sound of muffled cries for help. The boy yelped at the sight in front of him. On the floor, he found Higsby, Ms Yuri and the old man, all tied and taped up! Immediately, he helped them out.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Higsby cried in gratitude, holding the boy in a tight hug.

"Uh... It was no problem..." Lan sighed, who slowly let go. "You guys have helped me and now-"

"Eh, don't worry about it," the old man spoke up. "I'm used to hard times like these."

"Lan, there's no time for chat!" Ms Yuri reminded him, pointing to the staircase nearby. "You have to get up there!"

"On my way!" Lan responded as he took off. Clanking could be heard with each step on the metal as he spared no time waiting. There was another door waiting for him. He tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. Taking a step back to think, he noticed a jack in port.

"Lan! There must be a lock program somewhere!" Megaman spoke up. "I'll disable it!"

"Guess we have no choice," Lan replied, stretching out the cord from his PET. "Jack in, Megaman! Execute!"

* * *

**In The World Three Computer Network...**

As Megaman arrived, he gained a sense of what humans called 'deja vu'. This network was strangely similar to the Oven Network back at home. Same appearance, same fires... He would have questioned World Three's creativity, but there was no time for that.

"We need to go find that Lock Program and delete it!" Lan said.

"Roger!" Megaman responded. As he moved forward, he found a normal Net Navi, who claimed to be a scrapped World Three Navi. He gave the blue Navi in front of him some Ice Blocks to stop the fires, but after that, he froze. His body color darkened slightly, which gave Megaman cyber chills down his own spine.

"Creepy..." Lan commented. "But whatever. Let's go, Megaman!"

Said Navi did as his NetOp said and continued to make his way through the area. Along the way, he doused some of the fires with the Ice Blocks he was given. Things seemed to sail smoothly so far, but some of the toughest viruses were out for the sole purpose of deleting Megaman. The blue Navi took quite a bit of damage battling it out with them, but eventually, after making his way through, he reached his goal.

A fiery red platform was where the Lock Program, a flame like key, rested. Megaman aimed his Mega Buster at it and charged a shot, but out of nowhere, more fires shot up from the cyber ground around the key! Megaman jumped back, noticing clusters of data form a figure in front of him. As the body began to take shape, Megaman couldn't help but gasp at its familiarity.

"Fireman!?"

"Delete... Delete..." A step forward.

"Huh?" A step back.

"Delete... Delete..." Another step forward.

Upon closer inspection, Megaman realized that Fireman's body took on a darker shade. His eyes appeared as dark holes and his endless chant of 'Delete... Delete...' made Mr Match's Navi sound... zombified... Fireman pointed his Fire Arm at his enemy. In no time flat, he charged up his power and released a stream of flames at Megaman.

"Gah! Megaman!" Lan shouted.

Megaman struggled to get up. Did Fireman's power increase? It seemed like it, but either way, he had to be stopped. And so, the fight began.

It was a constant trade of powerful blows between the two Navis. Punch after punch, shot after shot, neither one refused to give in. However, as the battle raged on, Fireman, or what seemed to be Fireman, gradually gained the upper hand. He showed no sign of fatigue, unlike his opponent. Slowly, but surely, the pain rained down on Megaman. With one final swing of his Fire Arm cannon, Fireman knocked Megaman down to the cyber ground.

As the blue Navi groaned in pain and as he struggled even more to get up, Fireman pointed his Fire Arm at him. Fiery energy swirled round it, forming an energy ball of intense flames. Megaman was too weak to even raise his own Mega Buster to counter. The useful battle chips were already used up. This was definitely the time for Area Steal, but it was used up already!

"Delete... Delete..." Fireman continued to repeat. "Delete... Delete..."

"Megaman! Megaman! Get up!" Lan ordered. But the shouting was for naught. It seemed like the end. But...

"Hero Sword!" a voice cried. "Battle chip in! And download!"

Just as Fireman released his final attack on Megaman, a bright white stream of energy sliced downwards on the fire based Navi.

"Dele... Del..." Fireman slowly began to disintegrate, the little bits of data drifting away, no one knowing where they would end up. "De... D..." Eventually, all of his body was gone, his voice only echoing in the network. Fireman, or what seemed to be Fireman, was deleted.

The Navi Megaman saw was one he didn't expect to see at all. A tall Navi. One with wings.

"Glyde!"

"You must really stop worrying your friends like this," Glyde told him.

"Glyde? That means..." Lan began to speak.

* * *

**In The Real World...**

Lan turned around to notice his friend Yai standing right there.

"Too stuck in the battle to even notice me?" the girl scoffed. "Hmph! Men!"

"Heh heh... Sorry about that..." Lan scratched his head. "Megaman, delete the Lock Program!"

"On it," the blue Navi responded, before a loud 'BOOM' sounded through the PET. Then, he and Glyde jacked out.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Lan asked Yai.

"No time to explain! You have to get moving!"

"Yai, I... Right! I'll go on ahead!"

Lan made his way to the second security door, where he jacked in Megaman and deleted a copy of Numberman and the next Lock Program, with some help from Higsby and the real Numberman. The third security door's Lock Program was guarded by a copy of Iceman. Both of them were deleted with some help from Miyu and Sal. Dex and Gutsman came into play with the fourth door when battling it out with copies of Colorman and Elecman.

While all of that played out, on top of the mountainside, with the hacking rocket, was Wily, along with the purple orb that was the Life Virus.

"Now, I just load this onto the rocket..." he murmured to himself. He was about to continue on, but he heard footsteps. He turned around to see his right hand man, the look on his face telling him that he had bad news.

"Report, sir!" Yahoot said. "It seems that we have intruders."

"Grr... I won't be stopped now!" Wily responded. "Yahoot, deal with them!"

"As you command..." After kneeling before his master, he took out his PET and left the scene.

"Is it time?" the bearded Navi asked Yahoot.

"Yes..."

Back with Lan, he found himself in an entirely different room. There was a checkered floor, a display screen at the front and four colored platforms to his left. To his right was a sort of portrait. The man being depicted was a balding man, who looked like he was in his late sixties.

"Whoever did this..." Lan couldn't help but mutter. From the corner of his eye, he could see something peculiar. Well, peculiar for a picture frame.

"What is it, Lan?" Megaman asked him.

"It looks like... a jack in port! What's that doing here?"

"Think we should check it out?"

"Yeah. You ready?"

"Of course!"

"Alright! Jack in, Megaman! Execute!"

* * *

**Back In The World Three Computer Network...**

What Megaman had noticed throughout the break in was that the different areas of the network resembled other networks in DenTech City. ACDC Elementary, the Waterworks and DenTech Town's traffic lights seemed to be inspirations for World Three's network. The particular area Megaman jacked into resembled SciLab's power plant.

It was the same procedure as it was in the Power Plant Network, too. Megaman stepped around for invisible paths and walked along them. However, it was easier here because the individual paths seemed to create one linear path. There was some branching out here and there, but that only led to tough virus fights.

After Megaman arrived at what seemed like the end, he found a gap in the path. Assuming it was a trick by World Three to make them turn back, he pulled out a foot and placed it down, to find that it didn't connect with anything.

"What?" Lan groaned. "Now what are we gonna do?"

"Lan! I'm here at last!" a familiar voice called out.

"Hiya, Mega!" another voice greeted the blue Navi. There could only be one Navi/NetOp pairing that it could have been.

"Maylu? What are you doing here?" Lan groaned.

"I saw you at the school entrance," Maylu answered. "And I told everyone about it, so we all came to help!"

"Hmph! I was... doing fine by myself!" Lan lied.

"Yeah right! Roll, roll out!"

"Hee hee. Of course!" Roll smiled. With three clicks of the heels of her boots, she suddenly began to float! A skill only she had, it could only last fifteen seconds.

While floating, she flew over to Megaman and grabbed him by the arms. Megaman yelped, blushing slightly, as he was being carried over the gap and onto the other side, where the fifth and final Lock Program was. After Megaman and Roll landed, Megaman aimed his Mega Buster at the key shaped program and fired at it, destroying it and unlocking the door.

* * *

Yes! UpbeatButNegative is back! Sorry for the hold up, guys. Along with the usual schoolwork and homework, I've been hanging out with my real life friends more often. Also, the curse of the teenage boy's mood swings have struck me once again, so I never felt bothered to update. I'm sorry, guys.

Before I go, I would like to proudly announce that it has now been two years since I first signed up for this website! Yeah, two years old... It's time for some additions. Every week, from this point on, I will be uploading a different poll on my profile that I would like you guys to answer. Why am I doing this? No reason, really. Getting people's opinions on stuff, maybe?

Also, I've decided to open up from just writing stories here. I understand that people will always have some kind of problem in their lives. It happens. I have them, too, so I understand how it feels. Therefore, from now on, I will be a sort of counselor on FanFiction. If you have any problems (preferably social problems and such), leave me an email and I'll help you out.

Anyway, guys, I hope to entertain you all with my works for another year and the years to come!

~Have a great day, week, fortnight, month, whatever, and stay upbeat, y'all!~


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